The Vulpine Huntsman of Vale
by SilverFoxSage
Summary: During the battle between Naruto and Sasuke at the Valley of the End, the Kyūbi's energy rips a hole in reality and flings Naruto out of the Elemental Nations. He wakes up in a strange world where everything is heavier and people use weird transforming weapons and powder to kill things called Grimm. And why is Naruto half fox now? Smarter!Naruto Kitsune Hanyou!Naruto. Sensei!Kyūbi
1. From the Valley to the Void

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Welcome to my first story! I'll keep this brief, since I know that you really just want to get to the story. I will post one chapter of this story every other day until the chapter that coincides with the first episode of RWBY is posted. PLEASE read the longer A/N at the end of this chapter, as I have important information and a survey for you! Until then, enjoy!**

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**Disclaimer: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, all characters that appear in the aforementioned series, and all techniques that appear in the aforementioned series are property of Masashi Kishimoto and any company, organization, or individual he has chosen to sell the rights to. SilverFoxSage does not claim ownership of any of the aforementioned intellectual or commercial properties.  
**

**RWBY, all characters that appear in RWBY, all fantastical locations that appear in RWBY, and all named weapons that appear in RWBY are the property of Roosterteeth, Monty Oum, and any company, organization, or individual they have chosen to sell the rights to. SilverFoxSage does not claim ownership of any of the aforementioned intellectual or commercial properties.**

**SilverFoxSage encourages all readers to support the official releases of RWBY and Naruto. SilverFoxSage does not attempt to generate revenue or profit with the fanfiction "The Vulpine Huntsman of Vale." SilverFoxSage DOES claim ownership of any original Jutsu, original characters, and original weapons that are created for the fanfiction "The Vulpine Huntsman of Vale."**

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**Chapter 1: From the Valley to the Void**

Red Chakra and black Chakra pushed against each other beneath two giant statues in a place called the Valley of the End. The sources of these two Chakras were two boys, one surrounded by a fiery red cloak of Chakra, the other grotesquely transformed into a monstrous creature with webbed hands sprouting out of his back as wings.

The red-cloaked boy stared at the thing his friend had become. "I won't let you leave us. I will bring you back... SASUKE!"

The winged boy gathered black lightning into his palm as the cloaked boy began spinning part of his red Chakra cloak in his palm. The two boys leapt at each other, completing their attacks in midair.

"CHIDORI!"

"RASENGAN!"

As the two attacks collided, something went wrong. The Rasengan in Naruto's palm seemed to collapse in on itself, giving Sasuke's Chidori the space it needed to plunge into Naruto's chest, just barely missing his heart. The two boys fell to the ground under where they had clashed.

At the point where the Rasengan collapsed, a point of bright red light appeared. Before either boy could react, it began to slowly expand, and an unseen force started to pull both boys towards it. Naruto looked at Sasuke as both boys changed back to their normal selves. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw something in the other boy's eyes. Was that... regret?

As Sasuke removed his fist from Naruto's chest, the orange-clad hero began to sway unsteadily. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was being pulled upwards toward the sphere of strange red light that his Rasengan had created.

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When Naruto came to, the first thing he noticed was that he felt like he was floating weightlessly, drifting gently along as if he was in a river. Opening his eyes, the second thing he noticed was that he was surrounded by black nothingness, with distant balls and points of light in every direction.

As he looked around, he realized that his body wasn't resting on anything, and he was floating slowly downward, in the direction his feet were pointing.

"Well... this is weird."

He tried moving around a bit, but quickly stopped as pain shot through his chest. Looking down at the origin of the pain, he saw that the last wound that Sasuke had given him was still open, but wasn't bleeding. He stared at the exposed flesh and bones of his ribs for a few seconds before looking around him again.

"What is this place? Am... am I dead?"

Not expecting any response, he was quite surprised when he heard a familiar chuckling coming from directly behind him. He immediately tried to twist himself around to face the source of the laughter, regretting it as his left lung screamed in pain.

**"Calm yourself, Kit. No need to injure yourself any further. You're not dead, but then again, you're not too alive either."**

Completing his painful spin, Naruto was able to fully glare at the small nine-tailed fox that was floating along with him in the strange void.

"What the hell does that mean, you stupid fuzzball? Are we in my mindscape? And how did you get so small?"

The now normal-sized fox grinned, preparing to torment his inquisitive jailer a bit to pay him back for all of the situations like their current predicament the young ninja got them into.

**"In that order, it's complicated, no, and that's ****_my_**** business."**

Naruto began to shake his fist at the grinning demon.

"YOU STUPID FOX! YOU BETTER START EXPLAINING RIGHT NOW OR I'LL SHOVE A RASENGAN SO FAR UP YOUR ASS THA- ACK!"

Naruto's tirade was cut off by a spike of pain from his open wound, which had begun to slowly bleed again. Kyūbi did not hesitate to fill the silence before his container could start rupturing his eardrums again.

**"ALRIGHT! I'll explain what I know of this odd situation you've managed to land us in if you just keep QUIET! How half of Konoha isn't deaf between you and the Green Abominations I will never know..."**

As the Kitsune trailed off, a red glow started to come from the hole in Naruto's chest, Demon Chakra beginning to heal the more critical areas.

**"Alright, to start with, you're most certainly alive, otherwise I would be dead as well. Seeing as my chakra is still trying to heal you, that can't be the case. However, you are no longer in the land of the living either, as that wound really should have killed you. If you had any intelligence at all, you would realize that since we are NOT in a stinking, wet sewer, that we are, thankfully, outside of your mindscape at the moment."**

Naruto's eyes widened. "But if we're not inside my mindscape, and I'm still talking to you... CRAP! Did you escape the seal when Sasuke hit me with Chidori!?"

Thinking quickly, Naruto pulled up his shirt and looked at his stomach. He began to channel Chakra, and was immediately relieved to see that the seal was intact. "So the seal hasn't been broken, but I'm talking to you outside of my mindscape. How?"

Kyūbi chuckled again. **"Well I'll give you half credit, brat. Checking the seal was a decent idea, but you should have known that it was still intact when my Chakra started healing your wound. As to how we are having this conversation... that is a complicated matter. When you and the Uchiha bastard attacked each other that last time, something went seriously wrong with the stability of our world. That wasn't the first time that my Chakra was used in battle at the Valley of the End, and the stability of the world's energy hadn't had enough time to recover there. So when my Chakra was used AGAIN in such a violent manner, it ripped a hole out of our world that we slipped into."**

It took Naruto a minute or so to let that information fully sink in. "So... where exactly are we then? And you still haven't explained how you are outside the seal!"

The fox looked around at their surroundings. **"I can't actually be sure where we are. We might be in another world. We might have formed a new dimension. We might even be trapped in a realm of nothingness. But what is most likely is that we are in the space between worlds, heading towards another destination. If it weren't for the fact that that damned seal is so strong, we probably wouldn't even be close enough to have this conversation now. When we came through the hole in reality, the transition was violent enough to rip my soul out of the seal, while leaving the energy I was entrusted with behind..."** Kyūbi's explanation trailed off, a strange, almost contemplative, look appearing on his face.

Naruto looked back and forth between the seal and the fox, confusion running through him. "What do you mean by 'the energy you were entrusted with?' I thought this was your Chakra."

Kyūbi snapped out of his thoughts. **"Huh? Oh, well after nearly ten thousand years, the energy your Sage of Six Paths gave me to watch over began to act much more like my own energy. I suppose I affected it just as it often affected me. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I'm now separated from that energy, I doubt that I would be discussing this matter so civilly with you. More likely I would have ripped you to pieces as soon as possible. In fact, as soon as I'm back in that seal of yours, I'll probably go right back to cursing you and the Yondaime Hokage and doing everything I can to escape and kill you... but I digress. The malicious energy that you humans have come to associate with me was not originally mine. It was once part of... something else."** The way the fox spoke of this "something else," as if he feared it, was enough to make Naruto a little nervous.

"What... what was this 'something else?'" asked Naruto, whose wound was about a quarter of the way to being fully healed at this point.

The question was met with silence for several seconds before Kyūbi grumbled and said **"I suppose you ought to know about it. All of the Jinchuriki ought to be told this story… Long ago, when humans were even more pitifully weak than they are now, unable to use Chakra or Jutsu, there existed... a Demon. Your people may call me and my brethren demons, but you have no idea the kind of power this true Demon had. It was called Jūbi no Yoki: the ten tailed demon, and it was considered unstoppable. The only reason the world survived its continued existence was that it would only awake once every thousand years to spread its destruction. It had as much power as myself and the other eight Bijū combined."**

Naruto paled at the description of such an unbelievably powerful monster. "Does it still exist?"

Kyūbi chuckled and shook his head. **"No, Kit. Thankfully, it was defeated. Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety four years ago, when it awoke, a Man came to challenge it. Somehow, he had found out where it rested, and knew of its history of destruction. This Man was not just any man. He was like a god among men. Some say that Kami actually lent power to this Man to do what he did. When the beast awoke, the Man fought it, and defeated it by sealing it within himself. Because of this, he gained power and knowledge beyond anything any human had experienced before. He discovered how to use Chakra, and began to teach others how to do the same. He was known as the Sage of Six Paths. The founder of Ninjutsu, and the most powerful Shinobi that has ever existed, and that will likely never change. Before his death, he realized that he needed to make sure that the Jūbi could never return, even after his death. So he created me and the other eight tailed beasts, and divided the Jūbi's Chakra between us for safekeeping. With the power that the deadly Chakra gave us, we were quickly made the heads of the nine demon clans, and were left to rule our realms in relative peace until you humans managed to figure out how to seal us into you and have been making trouble ever since."**

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the Kyūbi and said "We've been making trouble? You were the one who attacked Konoha in the first place, you dumb fuzzball!"

With an angry snarl, Kyūbi bristled up and growled out **"I didn't choose to attack Konoha you fool! I was sealed in someone else when some thrice-accursed Uchiha broke the seal and released me! Shattering a Bijū's seal is a sure way to make it go on a rampage! By the time I regained consciousness, I had already destroyed half of Konoha and was sealed inside of you."**

As Kyūbi calmed down, Naruto asked "How could you have regained consciousness _after _destroying half the village? Do you sleepwalk or something?"

The once-mighty Kitsune let out an irritated growl. **"Fool. When the Sage divided the Jūbi between the nine Bijū, he also divided its consciousness. Each Bijū got a different part of it. I received the pure malice of the Jūbi, as well as its proclivity for destruction. The Bijū are much like Shukaku's Jinchuriki: when we become incapacitated, the remaining consciousness of the Jūbi takes us over. Fortunately, it takes a great deal to incapacitate us, but when we do become incapacitated, things quickly go to Hell."**

Naruto was about to say something else, but he suddenly noticed a funny feeling throughout his body. Looking at the wound in his chest, he noticed that the energy that was healing it had taken on a darker hue. As he looked away from the wound, he noticed something else that was odd: his fingernails were becoming more claw-like, just like they had when he was using the Chakra Cloak. Feeling his canines with his tongue, he realized that they were sharper, and looked at the Kyūbi accusingly. "Okay, what the hell is happening to me, fuzzball? Are you doing this?"

Kyūbi looked from Naruto's claws to his bared teeth and seemed to become concerned. **"No. I am not doing this. I have no influence over the seal and the energy inside it while I am out here." **His fur stood on end as he realized what was happening. **"Oh my… You're channeling so much of the energy from the seal to heal you that it's changing you… You're becoming a half-demon."**

This statement nearly made Naruto panic. "I'm becoming a what?! You can't be serious! There… There must be some way to stop it, right?"

Kyūbi just shook his head. **"You ought to consider yourself lucky, Kit. There are many who would kill for a chance to become even a Lower Hanyou. Judging by how fast you're changing and how fast the wound is healing, I'd say you'll be a Greater Kitsune Hanyou by the time you've healed. When I return to the seal, you might even become a Grand Hanyou. There is nothing higher than a Grand Demon except for the Jūbi itself, and a Grand Hanyou is not far below a Grand Demon."**

Naruto growled at Kyūbi, surprising the Kitsune. "What if I don't want to be a Hanyou? I've spent my entire life being treated like a monster and called a demon! Now they'll be right! They'll hate me all the more now that I'm an actual demon and not just the container for one!"

Once again, the Kyūbi shook his head. **"Not to downplay what you've been through up to this point, but your treatment in the past is no indicator of how you will be treated from now on. You're going to a place that has no preconceptions of Jinchuriki or demons. And do not assume yourself to be greater than you are. Hanyou you may be, but demon you are not, and will never be. There is not a thing in your world or any that can turn you into a demon."**

Calming down slightly, Naruto said "But I'll be different from everyone else. People fear what they don't understand, and they hate what they fear. They'll hate me…"

Rolling his eyes at Naruto's distress Kyūbi said **"If you don't want to, you don't have to let them know you're a Hanyou."**

Naruto looked surprised, and just a little hopeful. "But my appearance is changing. They'll know I'm different even if I don't tell them exactly what I am."

**"****You can just use Kitsune Transformation to assume human form. Every demon and Hanyou can do it. As a Hanyou, you'll even be able to look like a completely normal human. Although why you would want to give up the extra intimidation of a demonic human form is beyond me."**

Naruto immediately perked up. "Can you tell me how to do that? As long as I can appear human, there's no reason anyone should hate me for what I am."

The Grand Kitsune rolled his eyes, but began to explain**. "Fine, but pay attention, brat. With Transformation, you will be able to shift between three basic forms: human, fox, and Hanyou. As a Hanyou, you will have certain foxlike characteristics, such as ears, claws, slit pupils, and up to nine tails if you end up becoming a Grand Hanyou. Greater Hanyous can only manifest seven tails, Standard Hanyous can only manage five, Lesser Hanyous three, and Lower Hanyous only have one tail. You can also take forms that are between these three basic forms, but that will take much more effort, and may require constant concentration. For example, you may, with practice, be able to maintain a human form with only fox ears, rather than ears, claws, tails, etcetera. Or you may be able to take the form of a fox that walks upright. Note that if your concentration fails for one of these halfway forms, you will revert to your 'true' form, which for you is your Hanyou form. In a similar manner, I would revert to my fox form if I was halfway between fox and Hanyou, and to my Hanyou form if I was halfway between Hanyou and human. Since my 'true' form is that of a fox, I would move as close to that form as possible. Also, your body is the only thing that you can shift without supplemental skills, like Fuinjutsu, to help."**

It took a moment for the implications of the fox's last statement to register for Naruto. "So... no clothes when I go from fox to human? No weapons either?"

These questions were met with a chuckle and a nod. **"That's right. Unless you can find or design a seal that can let items transform with you. Just so you know, any seals you have on you will be completely undamaged and unaltered no matter how much you transform. By the way, you should be able to change the size of your fox form with some practice. You won't be able to shift it too much, but you should at least have a range from about cat-sized to horse-sized. I'm sure you'll find plenty of uses for that."**

Naruto sighed and said "Well where the hell am I going to learn Fuinjutsu? It's not like I'm likely to find any seal masters where I'm going, and I get the feeling that this is a one-way trip."

**"You're certainly right about the trip being one-way. Unless you think you can find a way to rip a hole in reality a second time and propel yourself back to the Elemental Nations and not some other world. That is if you would survive a second trip to begin with. And as far as finding a Fuinjutsu teacher... well I'll just say that you'd be surprised at the resources currently at your disposal and leave it at that."** The fox seemed to smirk at his last comment, and Naruto had a confused look on his face. Before he could question what the fox meant, Kyūbi decided to continue with his explanation.

**"Alright, last but not least, do NOT try to transform to or from your fox form if you are significantly injured. That means broken bones, lacerations, concussions, internal bleeding, or ruptured organs. If you start to transform and things start hurting worse, go back to whatever form you were in when you started. Letting your body shift naturally to your Hanyou form is the same as transforming. Transforming can make injuries like these much worse. Minor cuts, scrapes, bruises and scratches shouldn't be a problem. Then again, given how fast you heal, by the time you finish transforming, those kind of injuries will probably just be gone. Going from human to Hanyou and back won't be an issue since the anatomy of those two forms is so similar. Your tails can't really get injured, as they won't be like the rest of your body. The tails of a Hanyou are more of a physical representation of your Kitsune Chakra. They can still get cut and bleed, but transforming to human and back will restore them unless one of them gets cut off. If that happens, you will have to wait for it to regrow. To actually go about transforming, you need to manipulate your active Chakra levels. You have two types of Chakra going through your coils at all times now. Kitsune Chakra and human Chakra. If you want to become human, you want to repress your Kitsune Chakra and channel human Chakra. To become a fox, repress your human Chakra and channel Kitsune Chakra. To become a Hanyou, channel both kinds of Chakra about equally. One side effect of this is that you will be most powerful in your Hanyou form, since you will have all of your Chakra available to you. Any questions?"**

Naruto thought for a moment before saying "Will I gain any other skills from becoming a Hanyou?"

Kyūbi nodded. **"You will also be able to use Foxfire and create Kitsune Illusions. To be honest, you have had the illusion skill from the moment I was sealed into you. The reason you have always been terrible at Genjutsu is that the Kitsune illusions and human Genjutsu simply do not mix well. The main difference between the two is that Genjutsu focuses on manipulating the Chakra flow of the target's brain to make them think they are experiencing something, while illusions create false stimuli outside of the body that are detected by the physical senses."**

Naruto's jaw dropped. "That makes so much sense! I've always focused my energy on trying to shift the surroundings to match the illusion I wanted to make when I tried to do Genjutsu! I didn't know you had to focus on the opponent's brain…"

The Kitsune lord would have facepalmed if he could have. **"You are just realizing this now? Exactly how many times has your loud teammate tried to explain Genjutsu to you?"**

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… A lot? She would mostly just yell at me a lot though about not having good enough Chakra control to do Genjutsu, so I wouldn't pay attention to what she was saying."

Kyūbi looked at Naruto incredulously. **"Fool. You must learn to be able to pull as much information as possible out of a situation, no matter what the circumstances are. We will have to work on that."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Kitsune in front of him. "We? What are you saying 'we' for?"

With a flick of his tails, Kyūbi said **"Well I'm going to be teaching you a thing or two of course. As a Kitsune Hanyou, you will be a part of the Grand Demon Clan of Kitsune. I will not have any member of our clan bring dishonor and disgrace to the Kitsune name. I will teach you our skills and to be as cunning and sly as a fox. If you ask nicely, I might even show you a Jutsu or two as well."**

So excited was Naruto that he failed to notice the fox ears growing out of the top of his head. "Seriously!? I'm going to learn Jutsus from the Kyūbi itself!? This is awesome!"

Kyūbi, meanwhile, growled with irritation. **"You weren't listening, brat. I said 'if you ask nicely.' I make no promises as far as Jutsus go. You'll have to prove yourself to be intelligent and reserved enough to handle the kind of Jutsus I can teach you without blowing yourself or your surroundings to bits."**

Naruto was about to protest when he felt a strange tingling along his spine, particularly in his tailbone. Looking behind him, he saw a long, furry appendage sprouting out of his tailbone area. "Huh. I'm growing a tail… How about that…"

Looking back at Kyūbi, Naruto saw that the Kitsune was staring intently at Naruto's chest. **"That wound of yours is almost done healing, Kit. If you're growing a tail as well, that probably means that we are almost finished with our separation, and will soon be dropping into whatever world is nearest the Elemental Nations at the moment."**

With a confused expression, Naruto asked "Closest at the moment? Are there other places closer at different times?"

Kyūbi nodded. **"The various worlds drift closer and farther to and from each other all the time. The other Bijū and myself have traveled between quite a few of the worlds that are closer to our own realms, which are bound to the Elemental Nations similar to how the Summon Realms are with the Summoning Contracts. Now that I think about it, as my container, you could actually forge a Summoning Contract between our clan and humans given the right circumstances…" **The demon lord trailed off with a thoughtful look. **"It doesn't matter at the moment. I think I see our stop up ahead, so you should know that the recombining process may knock me unconscious. I won't be a danger thanks to that damned seal of yours, but you won't be able to ask me for advice or borrow any of my Chakra until I wake up again. See you on the other side, Kit."**

Before Naruto could comment, his wound closed over and a great ball of light encompassed both him and the Kyūbi. He felt a searing, burning sensation where the points of the Bijū's seal were, and he passed out.

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**A/N:**

**So that's the prologue of this story done and over with. Now onto the important information. This story will only cover RWBY canon up to the end of Volume 1. I will post a second story as a sequel to this one that will cover the events of Volume 2.**

**Second bit of important information: I am going to be writing several chapters ahead of what I'm posting for this fanfiction. That means that as you're reading this, I've already written at least four or five more chapters. I have several reasons for doing this. One: I wanted to write all of the "setup" chapters and refine them before posting anything. This has already proven to be a smart decision as at this point, I've already written and rewritten the first three chapters three or four times each, since they are the ones that really set how Aura and Chakra work both separately and together in this fanfiction. So now I've got a really well-refined system for how Chakra, Jutsus, Semblances, and Aura will work together. Two: I really need some buffer chapters! I write in a really weird way. Some days, I have so much inspiration that I sit down and type for about six hours and get the rough drafts of three or four chapters done at a time. Some days, I have a really clear head with not much random inspiration to distract me, and I go through my rough drafts and random scenes I've typed up and refine them either to fit with this story or to file under another story idea I've had. The only problem is, I often get inspiration for parts of the story that won't come up for a really long time! So I may have chapters 4,5,6,9,12,and 16 done or really well mapped out, but no progress at all on chapters 7 and 8, so all of those other chapters might as well be a bunch of marshmallows. By keeping several chapters in reserve, I can continue to release them to give myself more time to write the in-between chapters for you guys.**

**Also, I throw out a lot of rough drafts of chapters, and even edited and refined drafts of chapters that I decide don't accomplish what I want them to. Even if a version of a chapter doesn't end up making it into the final cut, I may post it as an Omake because I like how the chapter was as an individual chapter, but didn't like the effects it had on the story as a whole. For example: I have had Ruby and Naruto meet and properly introduce themselves to each other at a few different points in the story and in several different ways that I have discarded already.**

**Now the final order of business: the survey! This is probably the only major input that you readers will be able to have on Volume 1 unless someone gives me a great idea in a review or a PM. And if that happens, it might cause me to rewrite half of the story and delay posting. Anyways, as you may have noticed in the brief few crappy paragraphs that took place in the Elemental Nations, it was never revealed whether or not Sasuke also fell into the rip with Naruto. I have had amazing ideas about what I could do if Sasuke was also sent to Remnant, but that also makes a few other ideas that I had either unusable or kind of awkward to implement. So, I decided to let my audience decide. I will post a poll on my profile, so please vote!**


	2. Enter the White Fang

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"_****_Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'__Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

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**Disclaimer: See first chapter for disclaimer.**

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**Chapter 2: Enter the White Fang**

Naruto opened his eyes and found himself lying on his side in the middle of a small crater on the roof of what appeared to be a warehouse. He was sore all over, and as he tried to get up, it felt more difficult than usual, as if he weighed a lot more. After he was fully upright, he felt a strange sensation behind him, and turned his head to see a long fox tail behind him, reminding him of what has happened during his trip here. His tail had fur that was the same color as Kurama's fur, with a tip that was the color of his hair. He reached up with his hands, which he idly noted now had very claw-like fingernails, to feel the top of his head, finding two fox ears sprouting from the top of his head. If he could have found a mirror to look into, he would have found that the tips of his hair had also turned reddish, and his pupils were vertical slits, although his eyes were still his normal cerulean hue. As he looked around, he realized that despite it being the middle of the night, he could see almost perfectly.

Taking a deep breath, he focused his attention inward, closing his eyes. _'Kyūbi? Are you there?'_ he thought out into the depths of his mind and the seal. Receiving no answer, not even an irritated growl, he decided that Kyūbi must still be unconscious from being sucked back into the seal.

He decided that he should get down to ground level, and walked over to the edge of the warehouse roof to see how high up he was. He estimated that he was about three stories above the ground; an easy jump for him.

But as he jumped, something felt wrong. He was falling way faster than he usually did! Acting quickly, he pumped Chakra into his legs to brace for the imminent impact. He wasn't a second too soon, as his landing left two more tiny craters where his feet hit the ground, and pain lanced through his legs. It was then that he realized two things.

One: the gravity of this world was stronger than that of the Elemental Nations. How much stronger, he wasn't sure, but enough to make it so that he might have broken his legs from that jump without Chakra reinforcing them.

Two: he was nowhere near being fully recovered. Despite having healed from the devastating Chidori, his body was still battered and bruised, that fall not helping matters, and he was running low on Chakra; a normally rare occurrence for him.

He needed food, a place to rest, and information about this world as soon as possible.

As he was thinking about how he would manage all of these things, he heard someone approaching. Thinking quickly, he hid himself among the crates stacked up against the side of the building.

A few seconds after he hid himself, five people came into view of the warehouse. They wore some sort of hooded uniforms with masks covering the upper parts of their faces and an emblem on their chests that looked like some sort of red animal head superimposed over three diagonal red slashes. They moved over to the entrance to the warehouse that Naruto was hidden by, silently drawing their weapons so that they would be ready for any guards. As they made their way to the door, one of them noticed the two crater marks left by Naruto's landing and silently gestured the others to come and take a closer look. Naruto's new ears had no trouble picking up their hushed conversation.

"What the hell could have left marks like this?"

"Looks like two heavy objects landed here from the roof of the warehouse. But why would anyone drop anything from the roof?"

"I don't know but... Wait! There's someone nearby!"

Unfortunately for Naruto, although his ears could easily pick up what they were saying, he could not understand the words that came from them. It was obvious that they were speaking some other language. He stayed hidden, hoping that they would dismiss the craters and continue on with whatever they were doing.

"How do you know, Wolf?" a feminine voice rang out.

"How do you think, Deer? I can smell them."

"Oh, right..."

To Naruto's horror, one of the figures pointed toward the boxes he was hiding behind. "He's over there. Hiding in the boxes I think." The masked and hooded figures moved to surround the boxes and got into fighting positions. "Whoever you are, show yourself or we'll shoot!"

Despite not understanding the words, the meaning was very clear, and Naruto rose up out of his hiding place with his hands high above his head to show that he wasn't armed. ("Hey, I don't mean any trouble by being here. I'm sorry if I'm interfering.")

When the five people saw that he was just a kid, they had relaxed slightly. Seeing his ears and tail, they lowered their weapons completely. One of them said "Any idea what he's saying?"

Another one of them stepped forward, ignoring the other's question and said ("It's alright, little one. What are you doing here though? This area is off limits to most.") It was the female voice from before.

One of the others looked at her and said "You know whatever language he's jabbering in?"

The girl glanced at him. "Of course I do. Otherwise I wouldn't be speaking it just now, would I?"

Naruto, meanwhile, was more than a little nervous. He'd been caught in an area that's off-limits by a squad of masked people that reminded him just a little too much of ANBU for comfort. ("Um, I'm sorry, I didn't know that this area was forbidden. I'm not from around here. I'll leave. No need to arrest me or anything.")

The woman just laughed softly. ("We aren't going to be doing any arresting here. After all, we're not supposed to be here either. If you want, you can come with us and get some proper clothes and some food as soon as we've finished our objective. I'm Deer, the leader of our little squad over there is Wolf, and the other three are Hawk, Puma, and Bear. What's your name?")

Naruto's eyes widened. These people WERE this world's ANBU. And they were offering him help while on an INFILTRATION mission! He was stunned for a moment. ("You… you want to help me? While infiltrating enemy territory? Why?")

The tone of disbelief in Naruto's voice saddened Deer. It was like the concept of someone being generous to a Faunus was completely foreign to him. "Wolf, can you and the others finish up here without me? I want to take the kid back to the truck so he will be out of the way."

Wolf nodded his acknowledgement, and Deer turned back to Naruto. ("The doors of the White Fang are open to all Faunus who need help. Come with me. I can take you to where we're going to exit from to wait until we get back, okay?")

Naruto nodded and smiled. Whatever a Faunus was, it seemed like being one was enough for these ANBU to be on his side. ("Thank you.") Realizing that he had never answered Deer's earlier question, he said ("I'm Naruto by the way.")

Deer smiled back at him and gestured to the direction that her and the others had come from. ("We're going to go that way, and I need you to be as quiet and out of the way as possible, okay Naruto? Be ready to hide in case anyone else comes along.")

Naruto gave her another short nod. ("I can do quiet.")

With that, the two of them began to move toward whatever extraction point that these "White Fang" ANBU had set up. Naruto ghosted past more warehouses, crates, and other industrial equipment, making even less noise than Deer, who was silently surprised at his skills in stealth.

After a few minutes of sneaking through the area, they came to a fifteen-foot-tall chain link fence capped with barbed wire. Two small trucks with a snowflake logo on each side were flanked by two more of the ANBU people. One of the trucks was pointed at the fence, while the other was facing toward the area Deer and Naruto had just come from. One of the ANBU by the trucks came up to Deer and began speaking to her in an urgent whisper. Naruto didn't bother to listen to what he was saying, as it was in the language that the other ANBU had been speaking before. Instead, Naruto took in the surroundings of the extraction point.

Between the two trucks, there were four men in guard uniforms that were unconscious. It was obvious that they had been the opposition for the ANBU in this area. Naruto wondered if the ANBU were going to take the four guards in for interrogation for a moment before turning his attention to the fence and what lay beyond it. There were three more ANBU standing just outside of the fence keeping watch. In the distance, across the flat, grassy terrain, he could make out a road that ran parallel to the fence that they were next to. Looking back at the trucks, Naruto noticed that the back of the one pointed toward the fence was partially opened, allowing him to see that it was loaded up with metal crates that were stamped with the same stylized snowflake as the trucks were.

Naruto was broken out of his observation when the ANBU agent who had been talking to Deer jumped into the truck facing toward the area he and Deer had come from. The truck roared to life and the ANBU agent drove it back into the maze of warehouses and industrial equipment. Deer turned back to him and said ("Get into the truck, Naruto. We can't leave just yet, so you'll have to wait there until Wolf and the others get back.")

With a nod, Naruto went to climb into the back of the truck with the crates, but Deer put a hand on his arm ("Not there, Naruto. Head up to the front of the truck and get into the passenger seat.")

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed at his mistake. ("Ah. Sorry.")

Once he was in the passenger seat of the truck, Naruto began to examine all of the dials, meters, buttons, and various other things that were used to operate the vehicle. There were vehicles in the Elemental Nations, but Naruto had never been inside of one before. Hidden villages didn't use them for a plethora of reasons. Vehicles needed smooth roads to run on, and Shinobi rarely worked in areas that had roads like that. Also, vehicles required fuel and maintenance. They were very easy to sabotage, and could even break down without any interference from an enemy. All of these things made them practically useless for Shinobi, who could just use Jutsus of various types to accomplish almost anything a vehicle could. The most interaction with vehicles that Shinobi ever got was having to guard them for clients who used them to move large amounts of supplies or raw resources from place to place. Experienced Jonin and Chunin often complained about escort missions where vehicles were involved, saying that they were much more work than a usual escort mission.

Having finished his inspection of the vehicle's interior, Naruto decided that vehicles were far too complicated to bother with, and began observing Deer and the other ANBU who were standing guard around the remaining truck. Naruto noticed that the unconscious guards were no longer in the place where he had first seen them. It made sense that they would have been moved though, as without the second truck, they would have been far too exposed. From a distance, no occupying forces would see anything wrong with this situation, but having unconscious guards on the ground would change that.

After about thirty minutes of inaction, the second truck returned. It stopped in its original position, but facing toward the fence this time around. Three of the ANBU hopped out of the back of the truck, and one exited from the passenger seat. The door to Naruto's left opened, and Deer's scent filled the cabin. Naruto was surprised for a moment that he could recognize her by scent alone.

Sitting in the driver's position and shutting the door, Deer turned to Naruto and said ("Buckle up, Naruto. This might be a bit of a bumpy ride if we're noticed.")

As Deer started the truck, Naruto gave her a confused look. ("Buckle… up?")

Deer gestured to her own seat belt, and demonstrated how to secure it. Naruto imitated her, and looked out the front of the cabin to see the other ANBU cutting a hole in the fence large enough for both trucks to get through. Once the hole was complete, Deer and the other driver eased the trucks through the hole. After both trucks had cleared the fence by about ten feet, they both stopped. Looking into the mirror mounted on the side of the truck, Naruto could see the ANBU outside go to work securing the loose chain link patch back to the rest of the fence with lengths of something that looked similar to Ninja Wire. Once they were done, the fence would look completely fine from a distance.

About thirty seconds after they were finished with the fence, one of the ANBU ran past the window and gave Deer a thumbs-up before getting into the passenger seat of the other truck. Both trucks began moving again, crossing the rough grassy terrain as quickly as was safe. They turned right onto the road that Naruto had seen earlier, and quickly picked up speed. Deer turned to Naruto for a second and said ("It's going to be a long ride. If you want, you can try and get some sleep.")

Naruto nodded, his eyes already closing. ("That-") His sentence was interrupted by a yawn. ("-is an idea I can get behind.") A few minutes later and he was sound asleep.

* * *

-Ten hours later-

* * *

Waking up to the feeling of softness and warmth around him, Naruto slowly opened his eyes, savoring the sensation. When he opened his eyes fully, he found himself in a room slightly larger than the bedroom of his apartment. He was laying on a small cot with a thin, but soft, white blanket laid over him. He slowly got up, feeling the slight strain of increased gravity hampering his movements. He noticed that, thankfully, his night of rest had finished his healing, and he was back at nearly full strength.

Looking around the room, Naruto noticed a wardrobe with a mirror on the front. Walking over to it, he saw that his jacket was in tatters, showing his newest scar from Sasuke's Chidori, which was still pink, marking it as a fresh scar. He idly noted that the scars from the village's "fox hunts" were slightly less prominent. 'Although that may just be because the Chidori scar draws most of the attention to it,' Naruto thought. He also noticed his new slit pupils and red-tipped hair. Tsunade's necklace and his leaf headband were still in their usual spots. Naruto was surprised, but very thankful, that they had gone through the battle with Sasuke unscathed.

His musings were interrupted by a grumbling from his stomach. He chuckled and mused aloud ("Well that's no surprise. I haven't eaten in... well at least a whole day, given how rested I feel. And there's no telling how long I spent talking with Kurama. I should probably go find Deer.")

As he walked over to the door, it opened to reveal a girl wearing black sweatpants and a purple t-shirt. Taking in her scent, Naruto realized that it was Deer. Without a uniform to disguise her, Naruto realized that she was only about 18 years old. She had deep purple eyes, brown hair, and, oddly, two tan-colored deer ears poking up out of her hair. Naruto blinked several times in surprise, but recovered in time to hear Deer say ("Oh good, you're up. I was just coming to wake you for lunch.") Deer walked into the room and took in Naruto's state of dress. ("Although you should probably change first. There are some clothes in the wardrobe that should be about your size. I'll wait outside.")

After a few minutes, Naruto came out wearing a pair of slightly loose jeans, an orange t-shirt, and a long-sleeved black jacket that was opened in the front. His necklace was underneath his shirt.

Deer smiled and said ("Follow me and I'll take you to get some food.") Naruto nodded and walked alongside her as they moved down a corridor. As they walked, Deer kept glancing sideways at Naruto. ("Oh, by the way, now that we aren't in hostile territory, I can introduce myself properly. My name is Lavender. Lavender Elken.")

Naruto smiled. ("Nice to meet you properly, Lavender. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Although I guess I sort of introduced myself earlier.")

Lavender looked confused. ("Your first name is Uzumaki? Didn't you introduce yourself as Naruto earlier?")

("Oh, where I come from, the clan name is said first.") they turned left to begin walking down another long hallway.

("Clan name? Where are you from, exactly?")

Naruto took a few seconds to consider how he would answer that. He couldn't say he was from another world. Everyone would think he was crazy. ("I'm from a small village that not many people have heard about. It's called Konohagakure no Sato, or just Konoha for short.")

Lavender raised an eyebrow. ("Does everyone speak Japanese there?")

With a nod, Naruto said ("Yes. In fact, until I left, I had never heard any other language used.")

Lavender was very surprised by this, but didn't comment as they continued walking. After a few seconds of silence, Naruto gathered up enough courage to say ("Um, Lavender, if you don't mind me asking, what's with the… um… the deer ears?")

This time, Lavender was shocked enough to stop completely, Naruto halting with her. ("What kind of question is that? I'm a deer Faunus of course, like how you're a fox Faunus.")

Naruto's eyes widened. ("You mean… there are others who… are like me? Like… _us_? All of these… Faunus?") His mind was racing with possibilities and hope. Perhaps he wouldn't be ostracized and hated for being what he was.

If Lavender was shocked before, it was nothing compared to what she was feeling after hearing that. ("Of course. All Faunus have some animal traits. Most only have ears or a tail or claws. You have some of the strongest Faunus blood I've ever seen. You… you've really never seen another Faunus before?")

Naruto shook his head, quickly thinking of a background story for himself that was similar to the truth, with just a few details altered. ("I've never even heard the term used until you found me yesterday. The people in Konoha called me… well… they called me other things…")

The deer Faunus didn't need him to go into detail. She was all too aware of the kind of names that he would have been called. Realizing that they had stopped, she started walking again, motioning for Naruto to follow her. She was silent for a moment, wondering if she even wanted to know the answer to her next question. ("What about your parents? At least one of them had to be a Faunus, and given how many fox traits you have, probably both of them.")

Naruto's gaze found his feet. ("I'm told that they died shortly after I was born. No one ever told me how it happened…")

Tears of anger and sadness welled up in Lavender's eyes. A village full of humans and one Faunus family, and not a single person even cared enough to tell Naruto about his own kind? It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. But the kid had to have had someone who cared enough to keep him safe, right? How else would he have survived in a place like that? Turning another corner, they began walking down a much shorter hallway with a door at the end of it. ("I'm so sorry, Naruto. Unfortunately, that kind of thing seems to happen quite a bit to Faunus… That's why we have the White Fang: so that one day, we will have equality between humans and Faunus.")

That last comment made Naruto's earlier hopes deflate a bit. It seemed that even in this world, he would be persecuted for what he was. It was little solace to know that he could appear human. This time, it wasn't just him who was being subjugated, and he doubted that many, if any, Faunus could take human form to escape discrimination like he could.

As they reached the door, Lavender decided to not dig into Naruto's past any more for a while. There was no need to bring up a bunch of painful memories so soon after him coming to the White Fang. She opened the door to reveal a room with several tables and a small kitchen area on the far wall. There were three people seated at one of the tables. One of them had floppy ears like Akamaru's instead of regular human ears and a long tail of the same color scheme. Another had a brown monkey tail that was wrapped around the back of his chair. The woman sitting opposite them had tiny feathers in place of hair on her head, and her eyes reminded Naruto of a bird of prey. The woman with the dog ears waved at them. The monkey-tailed man was too preoccupied with his food to have noticed them, and the bird woman just stared at Naruto for a few seconds.

Naruto and Lavender waved back to the dog Faunus before heading over to the kitchen area to grab some ham and cheese sandwiches. ("This is all we've got for now. Fredrick should be back from the supply run by tomorrow morning with some food to stock us up.")

Naruto just chuckled and said ("Honestly, this is a pretty good meal in my book.")

As they approached the table with the three other Faunus, Naruto became aware of a familiar scent coming from one of the people at the table. Smiling at the bird woman, he bowed to her and said ("It is good to see you again, Hawk-san.")

The three people at the table looked absolutely bewildered, and Naruto remembered that he spoke a different language from most of them. Lavender, on the other hand, looked intrigued. ("How did you know that she was Hawk?")

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with the hand that wasn't holding a sandwich. ("Well, I recognized her scent from yesterday. Since you were called Deer, it made sense that Wolf, Bear, Puma, and Hawk would also be named for the kind of Faunus that they were. From there, it wasn't too hard to figure out which one she was.")

Lavender looked impressed, and as Naruto began to eat his sandwich, Hawk spoke with Lavender in whatever language was the common tongue of this world. Lavender conversed with the three while Naruto focused on his sandwich. All too soon, it was gone, and Lavender turned back to look at him. ("Hawk says that it is good to see you as well, although she wants you to know that her real name is Scarlet.")

Lavender proceeded to introduce each person at the table to Naruto, and vice-versa. The dog Faunus was Emily Brown. Scarlet Avola smiled at Naruto when Lavender told her his name. The monkey-tailed man, who was known as Miguel Verde, gave Naruto a thumbs-up.

After Naruto and Lavender left the mess hall, Lavender said ("You can head back to your room if you want. I have to report to Leo. He's the leader of this outpost. We need to teach you how to speak English, and I'm probably the best person to do that.")

Naruto nodded and said ("Okay. See you later.")

Lavender smiled at him. ("Bye.")

With that, Naruto began to walk back to his room, while Lavender went in another direction. When Naruto got back to his room, he sat down on his bed and closed his eyes. With as much force as he could muster, he gave a mental shout into the seal. _'KYŪBI! ARE YOU AWAKE YET?'_

In return, he got a harsh growl that made him smirk. _'Good morning to you too, Fuzzball.'_

**_"_****_Silence, insolent brat! If you must disturb my peace, you will address me with the respect I deserve!"_**

Naruto was almost surprised by the Kyūbi's angry reaction, before remembering what he had said about how the Jūbi's malicious energy would make him more hostile. _'Ah… right… Well, Kyūbi, I figured you would want an update on our situation.' _He then proceeded to tell the grumpy Kitsune what had happened during the last twelve hours. For some reason, the Kyūbi grew less hostile and more thoughtful as Naruto's story went on.

**_"_****_Hmm,"_** the Kyūbi mused. **_"Japanese originated in the Elemental Nations, so I'm not sure how it could have ended up existing here, but I've never heard of English before… And this world feels… familiar somehow…"_**

_'__What makes it feel so familiar?'_

Naruto's question was met with another angry growl. **_"None of your business, brat!"_**

Naruto sighed and left the Kitsune to his thoughts. He had gotten too used to Kyūbi's demeanor during their trip here, and he would have to adjust back to how the Kitsune usually was.

Quickly becoming bored, Naruto decided to try practicing his Kitsune Transformation. He tried concentrating as hard as he could on making himself completely human, but after a few minutes without any results, he gave up on that method. _'What was it that Kyūbi said I had to do to transform?' _Naruto thought to himself._ 'Something about having two different kinds of Chakra…'_

Naruto wasn't sure exactly how he could have two different kinds of Chakra flowing through his coils without it mixing together, but he supposed that a ten-thousand year old Demon Lord would know what he was talking about when it came to these things. Brainstorming for a way to even tell what kind of Chakra was what, Naruto suddenly remembered something that Iruka-sensei had mentioned during one of the few lectures that he had really paid attention to.

_#Flashback no Jutsu!#_

_Iruka-sensei gestured to a diagram of the Chakra coils as he spoke. "…but the first step to using your Chakra isn't balancing the physical and spiritual aspects or learning how to use hand seals. The first and most important step is to be able to sense your own Chakra and move it around throughout your body. To do this, it helps to meditate." Iruka then sat on his desk, assumed a lotus position, and closed his eyes. "Focus your attention inward, and with some practice, you should be able to feel your Chakra flowing within you. From there, you can use the Hitsuji seal to manipulate the path it takes." Iruka formed a Hitsuji seal, and the class could see a soft blue glow forming around his hands. "Once you have this first step done, you can meditate further to…"_

_#Flashback no Jutsu Kai!#_

Of course, Naruto hadn't paid attention once the lecture had gone past the instructions for how to access your Chakra, which was how you performed cool Jutsus, but perhaps the whole meditating thing would help. Naruto assumed a lotus position as he remembered Iruka-sensei doing, and closed his eyes. He remembered that when he had first tried this, he had sensed his massive stores of Chakra almost immediately, but had a hard time actually doing anything with it. Shaking these memories aside, Naruto focused on the feeling of his own Chakra. It flowed swiftly and stiffly through his coils. It had always felt this way: stiff and firm and a little tricky to manipulate. He supposed that this was because he had much more physical energy than spiritual energy.

But as he felt his Chakra, he realized that there was something… different about it. He tried to pinpoint exactly what it was that was different about it, but he couldn't come up with a word to describe how it felt different; it just felt odd. Deciding to "back up" so to say, Naruto listed to himself as many words that described his Chakra as he felt it now.

_'__Strong… Firm… Fast… Thick… Sharp… Warm… Wild… wait, wild?'_

In all of the years that Naruto had been using Chakra, he would have never described his own personal Chakra as wild. Firm and thick? Sure. That was what you got when you had more physical energy than spiritual energy. Sharp? Absolutely. His raw Chakra had always seemed to act like a knife if he let it out of his body. Fast and strong? Yup. He had so much Chakra that it would rush through his coils at a breakneck speed, and with quite a bit of force. Warm? Well… sort of. His Chakra had always felt a little warm, but now it seemed more so than ever. But wild? No. Never before would he have described his Chakra as wild. But now it felt wild. It felt feral, almost.

_'__That's what's different… my Chakra is more like the Kyūbi's always was. That must be the Kitsune Chakra…'_

It was difficult, but after a while, he managed to isolate that wild feeling, and he found that it wasn't just a wilder feeling. It was an entirely different type of Chakra flowing through his coils. The feel of his Chakra as a whole had changed, but only because there were two types of Chakra flowing simultaneously. The Kitsune Chakra, for he was sure that was what it was, felt wild and hot. Compared to the rest of his Chakra, it was like liquid fire coursing through his coils. Once he could tell it apart from his human Chakra, he began trying to push it back. He focused on containing it and pushing it out of his coils and back into his reserves, where it was coming from. After a while of this, he felt a little tingly. Opening his eyes slowly so that he could continue to concentrate on keeping the Chakra at bay, he turned toward the mirror to see that his eyes had round pupils again, and looking at his hands, he saw that his fingernails were no longer sharp and claw-like.

The rush of elation his small success caused was enough to break his concentration, allowing the Kitsune Chakra to course through his coils once more. Immediately, his fingernails became sharp again, and his pupils shifted into slits. He couldn't bring himself to be angry over this, however, as he had made some progress.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Naruto was shocked to see that it was 6:23. He had been sitting there for nearly six hours! His stomach gave a grumble, showing that a great deal of time had indeed passed. He chuckled to himself. ("Who would have thought that the number one hyperactive ninja could sit still doing nothing for so long?") he mused aloud.

Getting up from his bed and exiting his room, Naruto made his way back to the mess hall to eat dinner. As he entered the mess hall, a girl just a little older than him was leaving. She had black hair and purple cat ears, as well as bright amber eyes. She was obviously in a hurry, and he barely had time to utter a "Konichiwa" before she was past him and out in the hall. He shrugged, figuring that he would have plenty of time to get to know her later, and went to enjoy his meal.

When Naruto got back to his room from dinner, he went back to practicing with his Transformation skill. This time, however, he was careful to interrupt himself frequently to check the time. It wouldn't do to fall into another six-hour trance. By the time it was ten o'clock, Naruto was beginning to feel tired, but satisfied with his progress. He was now able to turn himself completely human except for his tail and whisker marks. From the way that the Kyūbi had explained it, he figured that he could "stick" himself in human form once he was able to get there completely, and he decided that he would continue to practice this skill whenever he had some free time on his hands.

After he got into bed and was just starting to fall asleep, he felt a sudden jolt, and opened his eyes. Except he didn't open them to see his room in the White Fang compound. Instead, he was in a massive sewer system that had nearly two feet of water on the floor. In front of him was a giant cage held shut with a paper tag with the Kanji for "seal" on it. He sighed and called out "Did you bring me here, Kyūbi?"

A grinning fox face loomed out of the darkness. **"Indeed I did, brat. I feel that you are due a warning. I have figured out why this world feels so familiar."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That's not much of a warning…"

With a snarl, the Kyūbi said** "Your insolence is not helpful, brat! This world feels familiar to me because I have been here before. You see, the Demon Clans have often explored the worlds closest to the Elemental Nations out of curiosity or sheer boredom. Nearly eight thousand years ago, myself and the other Bijū came to this world to use it as a battleground. The more powerful gravity and larger landmasses made it so that we could go all-out without fear of crippling the planet's capacity to support life."**

With a confused look, Naruto asked "Why would you care if the planet could support life or not?"

Kyūbi growled at Naruto. **"Do not interrupt me! It is a crime abhorrent even among demons to destroy a world completely. We may not care for the individual insignificant lives of the inhabitants of a world, but planets are alive as well! To kill one, one must destroy all life on it, and poison it with Dark Chakra so that life can never again emerge. No demon except the Jūbi has ever sought that goal."**

Naruto nodded, a shiver going down his spine.

**"****As I was saying, the Bijū used this place as a battleground. But after a millennium of fighting, something happened. The scraps of energy that we released with our attacks mixed with the energy of the planet and created… things. Strange creatures the likes of which had never been seen before in any world. Every Bijū has a side that calls for the destruction of other life around us, but we also have other parts of us that can understand the beauty and value of life as a whole. These creatures, however, had only the side that sought death to influence them. Without any sentient creatures to hunt, they just fought amongst each other. None of them dared to challenge us, but all nine of us agreed that it would be for the best if we did not allow these things to continue to develop using our energy. So we left this world to its own devices. From time to time, our subordinates would visit this world, often to test their mettle against the creatures that dwelled here. Humans and Faunus came into being fairly recently for this world. The lesser demons would sometimes take human or Hanyou form and interact with these ningen, which is how Japanese most likely came to exist in this world. They even gave the ningen here copies of some of our less valuable scrolls and books on weapons and metalwork to help the ningen defend themselves against the creatures we Bijū had created. For some reason, they hate ningen and Hanyou more than anything else. Be wary of these creatures, brat. They may even be able to kill you."**

With a nod, Naruto said "Thanks for the warning, I guess."

He turned around, but before he could leave, the great Kitsune spoke up again. **"I have seen your progress with your Transformation. When you can shift into any of the three basic forms in under ten seconds, I will teach you how to create Kitsune Illusions."**

Naruto turned back to the Kyūbi, surprise written on his face.

**"****I may dislike you for keeping me locked up in here, but I promised to teach you, so teach you I will. A Bijū does not break an oath. From now on, you will refer to me as 'Sensei,' brat."**

Naruto couldn't help but smile. Kyūbi was starting to sound a bit more like he had when he was out of the seal. With a bow, he said "Hai, Kyūbi-sensei."

As Naruto disappeared out of his mindscape, he promised himself that one day, he would cure Kyūbi of his anger. That was Naruto's last thought before he succumbed to slumber.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hey everyone! Next chapter will be going up in two days, and it will summarize Naruto's time in Remnant up until the first episode of RWBY.**

**This chapter was my greatest opponent so far. I have written it, edited it, scrapped most of what I had, and rewritten the entire thing mostly from scratch several times. The idea to have the White Fang take Naruto in popped up after I had already written and edited the first version of the chapter, while I was thinking further ahead in the story and typing down ideas. I liked it so much I threw out everything I had already written. As far as I know, this is the first main crossover character that an author had the White Fang take in instead of having them camp out at the library or something, and I'm really proud of the idea. Even if it made writing this chapter ten times as hard.**

**As far as the gravity thing goes, I did that for one reason and one reason only, and I only started rationalizing it after the fact. My rationalization is that one of the reasons that Shinobi are so good at crazy acrobatics is because there is very little gravity in the Elemental Nations. It also explains how Lee and Sasuke were able to have half of a conversation midair during their fight before the Chunin exams. But I digress… The single reason I mentioned before should become fairly obvious in the next chapter, and anyone who can guess my reason for making Remnant have more gravity than the Elemental Nations will get a special mention in the next chapter's Author's Note. Feel free to guess either in a review or in a PM.**

**On a side note, I've had a few reviews that expressed displeasure at the mention of the demon clans. I just want to say that aside from a few more mentions in the "setup" chapters, you probably won't have to deal with them again. Really the only reason I even did it this way was to get the background for both Naruto's world and Remnant the way I wanted it. It's important that Chakra is not a product of Kaguya eating the fruit of the God Tree, and that Japanese was introduced into Remnant somehow. This was the best solution, and didn't involve making Naruto have the sudden ability to understand any language he heard, or letting him use a Yamanaka-style Jutsu to learn a new language.**

**One last thing: I take back what I said in the last Author's Note. I will NOT be posting discarded chapters as Omake, because some of them are REALLY long! Instead, I will post a separate story where each chapter is an independent discarded chapter. I will not post the discarded chapters until after their respective final chapters are posted in this story to prevent spoilers. I may also add random oneshots in that story as well, if any inspiration comes to me.**

**See you all again in two days!**


	3. The Obligatory Timeskip

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

_**"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"**_

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'_**_Kurama Thinking'_**

_Flashbacks_

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**Disclaimer: See first chapter.**

* * *

**A/N: I would like to take a moment to thank all of my readers, particularly those who have followed, favorited, and reviewed my story so far, as well as those who have voted on my poll. It's all of you that make doing this worthwhile. I would also like to apologize to all of you in advance. This chapter is going to be a little dry and heavy on description rather than dialogue, but it is necessary in order to establish Naruto's abilities and to get us more quickly to the best parts.**

**So let's get started, shall we?**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Obligatory Timeskip**

Naruto was walking down an empty street, wandering a little rather than going right back to his apartment. The broken moon was out, and its light was the only thing that let him see other than the occasional streetlight. He was wearing a long black cloak with a stylized red nine-tailed fox on the back and dark red flames along the bottom edge. The front was open to show a red shirt and black jeans. His necklace was in plain view today, and his Leaf headband was in its usual spot. As he walked, he began to reminisce about his time in the world of Remnant.

It had been just over four years since the night that Wolf, whose real name was Aaron Grey, and Lavender had found him. Many things had changed since then.

* * *

Naruto had spent the first year and two months of his time with the White Fang. During his first two months there, he spent a great deal of his time learning how to speak English from Lavender. Once he had been deemed proficient, he spent more time interacting with the other members of the White Fang, honing his English skills and getting rid of his accent.

The next six months were spent doing anything he could to repay the White Fang for taking him in. He went to protests and rallies whenever he could, and was always out at the front. Most people thought that it was because of his enthusiasm for the cause, but his real reasons were slightly different. He had heard that humans would often react violently toward Faunus gatherings, and as a Shinobi, he knew that he could protect his comrades better than most of the Faunus at the rallies. During one of the earlier protests, he caught the attention of some of the higher-ups in the White Fang when a group of humans had become violent toward the protestors, and he single-handedly drove them off with a frightening display of Taijutsu.

It was rare that the White Fang had any young member enter the organization with previous training in combat, and most people who decided to become warriors in this world only began basic training at age twelve or even later. Naruto's education from the Academy and his several different sensei was more than enough to put him on par with some of the White Fang's older warriors. After a few weeks of training to bring him up to speed on the weapons and tactics of the warriors of Remnant, Naruto went to fewer protests and began helping the White Fang as the agent "Fox." He sometimes worked with Aaron's squad, but often he would volunteer for missions that needed a great deal of stealth that no one else wanted to try. Many had objected at first to him going on these types of missions, Lavender being the most prominent protester, but when he completed the first mission without being noticed by a single guard, he was given much more leeway with what missions they would allow him to take.

After that first mission, as almost a joke about how he had thought that Aaron and the others were ANBU at first, he had an ANBU-style mask custom made for him depicting a snarling fox. He thought it was funny, and started wearing it whenever he was on missions. Little did he know that his real identity was kept a secret from most of the members of the White Fang, and he was building quite a reputation for the mysterious "Fox."

It helped his mission success rate that in the months before he began taking missions, he had met Kyūbi's standards with his Transformation and had begun learning Illusions. He still needed to use the Illusion hand seal: the pointer, ring and pinky fingers of each hand pressed against their counterparts on the other hand and pointed straight up, the palms of each hand parallel to the ground, and the pads of the middle fingers pressed to the knuckle of the middle finger of the opposite hand. However, this was a small price to pay to be able to become invisible in ten to fifteen second bursts. As he completed more of these missions and continued to practice, his skills with Illusion became much better, and he could make himself silent as well as invisible.

Unfortunately, he and the higher-ups of the White Fang had a disagreement of philosophy. Many of the Faunus in the White Fang, oppressed for years by cruel humans, felt that a bit of revenge was in order. During his last six months with the White Fang, he saw more and more unnecessary death. Assassinations, indiscriminate slaughter of guards, and collateral damage were becoming the norm for the White Fang, and Naruto would not stand for it.

Not to say that he was against all of the violent actions the White Fang took. It was more of an issue of how effective the violence was. Having been raised in a Shinobi village, Naruto knew that sometimes, there was no choice except to use force to solve problems. In the beginning, every illegal action and display of force by the White Fang had served a definite purpose; they struck directly against the people who were the most responsible for the discrimination against the Faunus population. Unfortunately, more recent actions were done less because they were effective and more because it was a chance for petty revenge against all humans, not just those who were at fault. This was hypocrisy at its finest.

After one mission where a guard who had surrendered was executed in front of him, Naruto marched up to Leo Goldeman, the leader of the White Fang outpost that was Naruto's home, and told him that it would be impossible for him to continue helping the White Fang as long as actions like he had witnessed were tolerated.

Leo was saddened by Naruto's decision, but accepted it and told him that if he ever needed help, the White Fang would still greet him with open arms. After all, "Fox" had done great deeds in the name of the White Fang. His last words to Naruto were "You'll find that those who prefer such violent methods are not in the majority here. Many Faunus agree with your ideals. Unfortunately, those who do not are much more vocal and aggressive about pressing their agenda. I hope that someday, you will be able to rejoin us without going against your morals. Until then, I wish you the best of luck, Naruto."

So Naruto left the White Fang, taking with him the forged legal documents that he had been given, and journeyed to the nearby city of Vale. At this time, he was confident in his ability to blend in. He had completely mastered Transformation, and was able to shift between his three forms in just over a second. He had just begun exploring the ability to create sealless Kitsune Illusions, which were the most useful, and could make himself invisible for up to thirty seconds at a time without the hand seal.

Thankfully, he was able to get another set of legal documents that showed him as a human, and used these documents to rent a fairly cheap apartment near the agricultural district and the east edge of the city. He had been allowed to take a portion of the profits from some of his missions, and had enough money for about six months' worth of rent. Being only thirteen at the time, he could only find a low-paying job stocking shelves at a grocery store.

If anyone had looked closely at Naruto's finances, they would have found it odd that within a few months of working, he had enough money to buy high-quality furniture and appliances. The truth was, his day job wasn't his only source of income; he just needed it to keep up appearances. He had decided to begin teaching "lessons" to stores and businesses that discriminated against Faunus by robbing them blind on a regular basis.

Between his Shadow Clone Jutsu and his Kitsune Illusions, it was simplicity itself to hide himself inside of stores until they had closed, then disable the security systems and clean out the cash registers and anything with a high value-to-size ratio. He would continue to hit the same place over and over as long as the Anti-Faunus policies continued, which was almost always until they went out of business from his "lessons." Occasionally, the issue was only with a racist manager who was fired because of the frequent break-ins, and Naruto would leave the place alone. Naruto didn't even keep most of the profits from these ventures, instead choosing to help out the Faunus population of Vale whenever he could. Of course, any decent Shinobi is paid for the missions they undertake, so Naruto kept somewhere between ten and twenty percent of the profits to pay his rent and buy appliances and other things he needed. He also opened a bank account and began to save up some of the money he "liberated." After a while, his efforts made the area surrounding his apartment one of the most Faunus-friendly districts of Vale.

Two months after leaving the White Fang, Kyūbi began to teach Naruto how to use his final Kitsune skill: FoxFire. He started out needing to use the Tora seal to manifest the bright golden flames, but continued to practice with it until he could manifest fire around his hands without the seal. He was still a long way off from throwing fireballs around, but it was a start.

Another three months passed before anything else interesting happened. Naruto had known for a while about Hunters and Huntresses, the warriors who fought against the Grimm, which Naruto assumed were the strange creatures that Kyūbi had told him about, but it wasn't until he heard a family chatting while he was working in the grocery store that he found out how Hunters and Huntresses came to be. Apparently, their eldest son had just graduated from a place called "Signal Academy," and had been accepted into "Beacon," which was apparently a very prestigious academy for Hunters and Huntresses. After a few days of digging around for information, Naruto applied to Signal Academy, which had pretty affordable tuition for someone in his line of "work," and was accepted. Naruto was ecstatic. He would be able to continue his training, albeit in a different path than that of a Shinobi, and his previous skills would greatly benefit him as a Huntsman.

During his first year as Signal, Naruto got into the habit of waking up early enough to be able to water-walk all the way to Patch Island to the West of the city, which was where the school was located, from his apartment, which was near one of the branches of the river that ran through Vale. This greatly helped his Chakra control, and he began having an easier time using his Kitsune skills because of it.

One of the first things that he had to do at Signal was forge a weapon of his own. Taking inspiration from one of his favorite weapons from the Elemental Nations, as well as from the transforming weapons that were fairly common on Remnant, he made a Katana that would shift into a long-range rifle. The rifle could go between semi-automatic and fully automatic, and when he discovered the amazing effect that firing Fire Dust rounds in full auto mode, he christened the weapon FireStorm. He liked his weapon, but he felt that his skill in forging and knowledge of the materials available to him was lacking, so he resolved himself to make himself a second weapon once he became better at forging.

Outside of school, Naruto's skills with his Kitsune abilities had grown so great that the Kyūbi decided that Naruto was ready to handle a few Jutsus. By examining Naruto's Chakra from within, the Kyūbi was able to determine that Naruto had a dual primary affinity for Wind and Fire, and a secondary affinity for Lightning. Kyūbi also explained that the Fire affinity had not existed until Naruto became a Hanyou. He started out with basic Change in Chakra Nature exercises, and continued to advance until he was able to perform basic elemental Jutsus such as Hōsenka no Jutsu _(Art of the Phoenix Flower)_ and Daitoppa no Jutsu _(Great Breakthrough)._ He also spent some time practicing the Rasengan, trying to perfect his technique so that he could use it with one hand. By the end of his first year at Signal, he could perform Hōsenka no Jutsu, and Daitoppa no Jutsu, was making great progress with Kangekiha no Jutsu _(Wave of Inspiration)_, and could use the Rasengan with one hand if he concentrated on it for about a minute and a half.

Over his first summer, Naruto spent a bit more time earning money, both at his job and with his "lessons." However, he also spent some time looking for a place outside of the city where he could practice large-scale Jutsus more easily. He found an excellent clearing after just two weeks of searching, and quickly discovered some things about some of the large-scale Jutsus that he tried to practice.

First, his shadow clones were more fragile than ever. With the increased gravity, falls and jumps that would normally be fine for them were causing them to dispel. In order to combat this, Naruto dedicated more Chakra to reinforcing their bodies. Once he had found a happy equilibrium between number and durability, he could produce about 50 clones before exhausting himself. He decided that it would be best to limit the number of clones he used in battle, both to preserve Chakra and because as far as he knew, no one else could do anything like making semi-permanent copies of themselves in a battle situation. He wasn't quite ready to start standing out just yet. He was able to pass off his Jutsus and FoxFire as Dust spells, but he could only attribute so much to the miraculous substance.

Second, when he tried to use his regular Summoning Jutsu, instead of getting a toad, he got a Kitsune. The Kitsune in question had a silver coat, glowing golden eyes with slit pupils, and seven tails. To Naruto's surprise, the Kitsune nodded its head in recognition to him, and said ("I had felt your transformation into a Hanyou echo across the realms, Kit. It is good to meet you.")

Naruto then had a very enlightening conversation with both the Kitsune he had summoned, whom he learned was the High Kitsune Sage called Gin Tēru, and the Kyūbi, whom Gin Tēru called "Kurama-sama." He learned that as a Kitsune Hanyou, he was automatically given the ability to summon Kitsunes, and that he could learn how to harness Nature Energy through the Sage Arts once he was able to manifest five physical tails. When he asked Kyūbi afterwards why Gin Tēru had called him "Kurama," his tenant replied **_"That is the name given to me by the Sage of Six Paths. Foolish ningen never bothered finding out our names for the most part. They just called us by our titles."_**

Naruto thought for a moment before saying _'Well then, I'll call you that from now on, Kurama-sensei.'_

For the first time in years, Kurama was left speechless.

Just a few weeks before the beginning of Naruto's second year at Signal Academy, something very unusual happened. While Naruto was out training in his clearing at night to help sharpen his senses, he looked up into the night sky to see shooting stars begin to race across the sky. He stopped training to watch them for a while, as he had never seen anything like it before. As time passed, the shooting stars seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

However, the shooting stars were not getting bigger, but closer. It wasn't long before one of those shooting stars went through the sky at a completely different angle than the others: downward. Naruto watched with awe as the flaming ball of light barreled downward toward a deeper part of the forest, and he quickly jumped up into a tree to watch it without the foliage interfering. He saw it land in a spectacular crash that made the ground and trees shake where he was standing, and he sat completely still for a few seconds before rushing off to see if he could find what was left of the shooting star.

It took him less than an hour of searching to find the shooting star, and he was surprised to see that a large amount of it remained. The large hunk of rock in the center of the crater was easily larger than Naruto, and there were many fragments scattered among the trees. Kurama advised Naruto to investigate what kind of properties the meteorite had, and so Naruto collected enough fragments to fill the empty space in his thigh pouch, and moved the remaining fragments and the meteorite itself to a less conspicuous place with the help of about fifteen shadow clones, so that nobody else would come across the impact site and take it. He had to fight off a few random Grimm as he concealed the meteorite while making sure that he could still find it, but they didn't pose any real threat to him.

With Kurama's help, which mostly meant that he did exactly what the Kitsune told him to, Naruto experimented on the fragments he had taken with him to figure out if he would be able to make use of the meteorite. This took up most of the remainder of Naruto's summer vacation, but the results were very promising.

Naruto had managed to refine a small amount of metal from the rock fragments over a period of a few days using his FoxFire. This metal was pitch-black, but glowed a different color whenever Chakra was channeled through it, depending on what type of Chakra was being channeled. Fire Chakra produced a red glow, Wind produced a white glow, Lightning produced a yellowish glow, and Earth produced a green glow. Naruto assumed Water would produce a blue glow, but he couldn't channel even the slightest amount of Water Chakra to test it.

This strange metal was much more resilient than any other metal Naruto had come across. Not only was it able to conduct Chakra, which made pretty much any other metal explode from the stress, but it was very resistant to tarnishing and scratches. This meant that it was an ideal metal for holding seals. It seemed that his FoxFire was the only thing that could melt it, and even then only when he put a great deal of Chakra into it, but then again, he didn't have very sophisticated forging equipment with him. The only real drawback to this metal was that no matter how hard Naruto tried, he could not make more of it using his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which usually copied the equipment he had with him as well.

From then on, Naruto would occasionally visit his hiding place in the forest to retrieve more of the meteorite, and would spend a little time each day refining the raw rock into metal.

Early on during his second year at Signal, Naruto had a life-changing experience that put most of his usual training on hold. While trying to complete a special meditation exercise to unlock his Aura, Naruto accidentally unlocked something else. The meditation dragged Naruto into his mindscape, next to the seal. Normally, this wouldn't be an irregular occurrence, but this time, there was someone else standing in the tunnel as well, looking around with a confused expression. When Naruto saw who it was, he couldn't move. He couldn't even breathe, and he swore that his heart stopped for a moment.

It was the Yondaime Hokage.

When the Yondaime noticed Naruto standing there, he smiled. . "Naruto… It's good to see you after all of these years. You're probably wondering how I'm here right now, aren't you?"

Minato explained to Naruto that he was actually just a fragment of the real Minato's Chakra, and he was like a shadow clone within the seal. This clone would only emerge if the Kyūbi was in danger of escaping, and had been called out only to find that everything was working properly.

Minato scratched his head in confusion "I have no idea what could have caused this part of the seal to activate early…"

Naruto looked embarrassed. "Um… I might be able to explain that…"

Naruto then explained what had happened to him, how he had been flung into an entirely new world where they used Aura instead of Chakra, and how he had been trying to unlock his own Aura, but instead ended up in his mindscape with Minato standing there. At Minato's request, Naruto went into a more in-depth explanation of what happened to him and what he had been doing in Remnant so far.

At the end of Naruto's story, Minato was wide-eyed. "That is quite the story. I'm so sorry, Naruto. To never be able to return... you deserved a better fate."

Naruto shrugged "To be honest I kind of like it here. Nobody knows about Kurama, so they just treat me like a regular human being instead of a monster."

This statement caused Minato to stiffen in rage. "A... a MONSTER!? They treated you like a monster!? How dare they! Out of everyone, you lost the most. You sacrificed the most, and they had the audacity to treat you like a MONSTER!?" Minato had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "I... I am so sorry for what I did to you. I am sorry for all the pain I have caused you... my son."

It was Naruto's turn to be shocked. "Your... son? You're my father?"

Minato nodded with a sad smile. "Yes, Naruto. I am your father. I couldn't ask another family to give up a child to seal the Kyūbi away. Besides, you have Uzumaki blood from you mother, which made you by far the best candidate to have a Bijū sealed in you."

Naruto was shaken for a moment before asking "What was my mother like?"

Minato then told Naruto all about his mother: Uzumaki Kushina, and the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans in general. When the mention of the Uzumaki clan's affinity for Fuinjutsu came up, Naruto commented "I wanted to learn Fuinjutsu, but without a teacher, I don't really know where to start."

At those words, Minato smiled. "I think I've got a solution for you, Naruto. If you allow me to access some of your Chakra, I can extend the life of this clone a great deal. As long as I've been released, I might as well make myself useful and teach you Fuinjutsu."

Naruto was ecstatic, and agreed immediately.

Over the rest of Naruto's second year at Signal, he spent almost all of his free time learning Fuinjutsu from his father. His grades suffered slightly, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to care all that much. He learned the difference between seals that were drawn on paper with ink, seals that were applied to objects, and seals that could be put on living things. He learned the pros and cons of using seals with an odd number of points and seals with an even number of points. He learned various specific seals, such as the explosive seal, storage seals, and several varieties of trap seals. Minato would have been astounded by the pace that Naruto progressed in Fuinjutsu if it weren't for the fact that he was an Uzumaki.

Then, a few weeks before Naruto's third year at Signal was to begin, with very little warning, Minato's clone collapsed in Naruto's mindscape, and Naruto had just enough time to exchange his final goodbyes with his father before he faded away. Naruto continued to practice with Fuinjutsu daily to honor his father's memory, and began experimenting with making his own seals. For being new at creating his own seals, he managed fairly well. He even managed to invent a special set of linked storage seals to use when he transformed. Basically, he would mark all of his clothes and equipment with a tag seal, and he had a master seal inked just above the seal that held Kurama. When he transformed into a fox, all of the marked items would appear to morph into him and be stored in the master seal, and when he transformed back, they would morph back out of the master seal and onto him. It could use some improvement, as his thigh pouch would usually come undone and fall off whenever he transformed from fox to Hanyou, and occasionally it would spit his boxers out several feet away from him, but it was forward progress.

Strangely, despite never having marked it, Tsunade's necklace would always morph into him like his clothes did, but it would leave a strange mark, like a stylized version of the three crystals, on the throat of his fox form.

One day, while testing a newer version of the seal, Naruto was shocked to see that instead of one tail, he had two fluffy fox tails swaying back and forth behind him. He asked Kurama about it, and his sensei explained that as Naruto became more powerful, mastered more Jutsus, and defeated more opponents, he would continue to grow tails until he had nine, which was the most any Hanyou or demon could have.

During Naruto's third year at Signal, he began to learn a fighting style with his katana that was very similar to some of the styles that Konoha Shinobi used to use. He became proficient with the style, but there was still a decent number of students in his year who could beat him in a weapons-only fight. However, he remained high ranked in his class with some excellent use of his "Dust spells."

Naruto's most important discovery of that year, and perhaps of his entire life, was that the Aura that was commonly used by Hunters and Huntresses was the very same energy as the spiritual energy that was mixed with physical energy, which he called Chi to distinguish the two, to form Chakra, which explained why he was never able to unlock his own Aura. The extensive use of Chakra and Jutsus that was a requirement for a Shinobi inherently unlocked a person's Aura. He couldn't unlock it because it was already unlocked! With some practice, he was able to split his Chakra back into Aura and Chi that he was able to use in a few unique ways.

Aura had an advantage over Chakra in speed of usage. Being linked to the soul, and therefore the will of the person using it, Aura was incredibly easy to manipulate. You want to make a shield around yourself? Done in an instant. Quick healing? No problem. Where Aura was lacking was efficiency and focus. It couldn't be manipulated with hand seals and therefore couldn't be made to do anything too complicated, with the exception being Semblances. Also, when Aura and Chi combined to make Chakra, you would get about twice as much Chakra as the amount of Aura and Chi combined that would go into making it.

Chi, on the other hand, was hard to manipulate in its pure form, but was excellent for enhancing the senses and body. Chi would get you the most bang for your buck if you wanted to reinforce your limbs if you could manage to guide it there. It was also far more powerful in terms of raw destructive capability than Aura. A Rasengan made of Chakra could probably blow up a small vehicle. A Rasengan the same size made of Chi could probably blow up a small building.

The human body had Aura capacity, Chi capacity, and Chakra capacity. They were all independent of each other, and could be increased through different methods. People also had rates of Aura and Chi regeneration, which were more difficult to train. These regeneration rates could go towards producing Chakra or they could go towards recharging the Aura and Chi reserves of a person.

After some careful meditation, Naruto was able to dedicate more of his regeneration towards his Chi and Aura reserves, making it so that his Chakra would regenerate more slowly. He felt perfectly safe doing this because it was fairly easy to mix Aura and Chi from his reserves back together in order to get a boost in his Chakra.

His Aura and Chi capacity was small compared to most Hunters and Huntresses, so he began to train to increase his reserves. It was slow going, but he was making definite progress.

During his third year, he also got several more Jutsus to learn from Kurama, including a few basic Earth Jutsus, and much more advanced Fire, Wind, and Lightning Jutsus. He also finally perfected the Rasengan, and could form it in under five seconds even while running toward a target.

The last significant thing Naruto had accomplished during the last four years was the forging of his true weapon, using the metal he had managed to refine from the meteorite he had found just before his second year at Signal.

Using the unique metal and Signal's forges on a day that the students had off (Kitsune invisibility for the win!), Naruto forged a Katana like no other.

In a stroke of genius, he had made ten ultra-thin lengths of the metal to create seals upon, and he had then layered those lengths over each other to make the blade. In this way, he was able to increase the number of seals in the sword tenfold. He added strengthening seals, elemental seals, and several custom seals that gave the blade awesome potential. He would never have to clean it, because special storage seals would remove any blood or debris from the blade. It would never break or need to be sharpened due to the strengthening seals woven into the already adamantine metal. He could channel his Chakra into it to coat it in Lightning, Fire, or Wind Chakra, and he could even use his sword as a focus instead of hand seals for a few basic long-range Jutsu. He named it Kitsune no Ikari, or Wrath of the Fox.

Using the metal left over from the amount he had brought with him, he had crafted a set of ten kunai that just had strengthening seals on them. He carried at least five of these kunai in his hip pouch at all times.

It had taken him nearly twenty hours to do all of this, but it was very worth it.

* * *

Snapping out of his memories, Naruto reached for one of his meteoric kunai now, as he saw someone being thrown through the window of a Dust shop up ahead. He coated himself in an illusion, making himself invisible, and slowly moved closer to a distance where he could intervene in whatever the hell was going on.

As he sat there, he watched as a girl a little younger than he was pull out a humongous scythe and start beating the crap out of some thugs who were obviously in the middle of robbing the Dust store before she showed up.

Amazingly, this red-cloaked girl was winning the fight. She had taken down about seven of the robbers when disaster nearly struck.

One of the men had gotten inside her guard. He was wounded, but he grabbed the shaft of her scythe, and they were grappling for it. This alone wouldn't have been a problem, but one of the other thugs had gotten behind her, and was raising his sword to strike what would have been a fatal blow.

Losing his concentration on the illusion and flicking back into visibility for an instant, Naruto channeled Fire Chakra into his kunai and threw it. As the extra Chakra ran through the seal on the kunai, it began to glow with a light green light, giving an ethereal contrast to the red glow around the blade.

The girl had gotten her scythe back under her control and turned to see a sword bearing down upon her that she would not be able to block or dodge. But before the blow could be landed, a strange knife that was glowing with an angry red light struck the man's hand, incinerating half of his arm and causing his sword to fall to the ground, half melted. As he screamed in agony and passed out, a man in a white trench coat began climbing a ladder on the side of a building. The girl ran after him, and Naruto followed them.

He got up to the roof just in time to see a blonde woman wearing a white blouse, black and purple cape, and a black skirt and leggings saving the girl, who Naruto was beginning to refer to in his head as Red, from being blown up by the red-headed guy who had run away from the fight. Except now he was in an aircraft of some sort. Naruto got ready to intervene again, but held back for the moment.

He watched as the woman on the roof with Red launched a barrage of purple energy bolts at the aircraft, causing it to weave around. The red-head moved out of the doorway and into the cockpit as the blonde Huntress launched another attack, this time a glyph that summoned a thunderstorm above the aircraft. The clouds rained shards of ice down that pierced the aircraft's outer hull, but didn't do any major damage. Kurama, who had just started paying attention, commented **_"This Dust that these ningen use is strange. I would have thought that a Raiton attack would have been more appropriate for a thundercloud to release."_** Naruto gave a mental shrug and focused back on the battle.

As the ice spikes eased up, a woman in a red dress moved into the cargo bay of the aircraft. After she and Red's protector stared at each other for an instant, she summoned fire into her hands and launched a fireball at the Huntress on the rooftop. It was easily blocked, but scattered embers everywhere that the woman in the aircraft used to cause a burst of fire from the ground that the Huntress dodged with a backflip.

At this point, Naruto had decided that enough was enough, and wove six hand seals. The channeling of Chakra broke his illusion, causing him to become visible as he shouted "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" _(Art of the Phoenix Flower)_. Bringing his hand up to his mouth, he launched a barrage of about fifteen fireballs at the aircraft.

The woman in red countered with fireballs of her own, and Naruto's two companions on the roof looked over at him in shock at his sudden appearance. The Huntress recovered quickly, and sent a pillar of rock at the aircraft as Naruto's last fireball was countered. As the woman on the airship destroyed the pillar with a few fireballs, Naruto pulled out three kunai made of regular steel that had lengths of ninja wire tied onto the rings. Coating them in Wind Chakra, Naruto threw them at the side of the aircraft. They sank into the aircraft and stuck while his Huntress ally used a dust spell to make the fragments of her original stone pillar form into three streams of stones.

Naruto ran through five more hand seals, and just before he called out his technique, their enemy used a pulse of glyphs to destroy the attacking stone streams. Before anyone else could launch an attack, Naruto grasped the ninja wire in his hands and called out "Raiton: Jibashi!" _(Electromagnetic Murder)_

Lightning arced between the three strands of ninja wire and all over the aircraft. The woman in the red dress fell to the floor of the cargo hold as she was shocked multiple times. After a few seconds, the kunai couldn't take the strain of so much Chakra anymore, and exploded, releasing the airship. While still lying on the floor, the woman in the red dress released one last volley of fireballs before the bay door shut and the airship flew off.

The fireballs aimed at Naruto's two allies were easily deflected by the blonde Huntress. Naruto didn't bother. He allowed the fire to pass over him, leaving him completely unscathed.

Red was practically jumping for joy "You're a Huntress! Can I have your autograph!?"

The woman gave Red a stern glare, before turning her gaze upon Naruto as well. "You most certainly may not! The both of you are coming with me!"

Red deflated instantly, but Naruto just chuckled. "Sorry, but I've got other things that need doing." Before the woman could make a move, Naruto detonated a smoke pellet at his feet. While he was obscured, he put his invisibility illusion back up and crept away from the smoke cloud before it dispersed. He could hear the Huntress angrily demanding "Where in blazes did he go!?"

While the Huntress looked around with an air of frustration, Naruto carefully went back down the ladder and moved to retrieve his kunai. That special metal was expensive and hard to come by, and he wasn't going to leave it behind! However, after he had picked up the kunai, he spared a glance to the man whose arm he had incinerated. A smell drifted into his nostrils, and he stiffened. He may not have as good of a sense of smell when he was in human form, but he could recognize the scent of death. Horrified, and hoping that his instincts were wrong, he moved closer to observe the man who he had struck with the knife. After a few seconds, his breathing became rapid, and he almost lost control of his invisibility illusion. Before he could completely lose control, however, a harsh voice echoed through his mind**_. "Get a hold of yourself, brat! This is not the time or place for this! Focus yourself right now and deal with this distraction later!"_**

Kurama was right. Naruto got up and stumbled away. He barely kept himself invisible as he ran back to his apartment, one thought going through his head the entire time.

He had killed someone.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry, everyone, but from now on, chapters won't be put up every other day. I will post the next chapter in one week, and then new chapters will be posted every other week. I was posting these starting chapters so frequently because I wanted to let you readers get to the parts where Naruto actually interacts with RWBY characters faster. You're welcome.**

**Now time to discuss my reason for making Remnant have more gravity. My reason was this: I needed a way to nerf Naruto's Kage Bunshin Jutsu! Seriously! In the anime and manga he can summon thousands of the damn things like it's nothing! In any case, nobody even tried to guess, so I won't be doing anything like that again.**

**While I'm on the subject, I'd like to go over other minor tweaks and details about the Shadow Clone Jutsu. In my fanfiction, there are three different Jutsus that can be used to create Shadow Clones. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Nikai(Double) Kage Bunshin no Jutsu are B-rank Jutsus. They produce one and two shadow clones respectively. Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is an A-ranked Forbidden Jutsu, and it can produce any number of shadow clones that is greater than two. Shadow clones are given a set amount of Chakra upon their creation, and cannot receive more Chakra from the original once they are created. They continually use up small amounts of Chakra to keep existing, and when they are dispelled, all of their remaining Chakra returns to their creator, while their knowledge is returned to their creator and all clones that were made by the same usage of the Jutsu that they were. Shadow clones can produce more shadow clones. However, because of the earlier specifications, if a shadow clone made more shadow clones, and those second generation shadow clones were to dispel, Naruto himself would not get the Chakra and knowledge of those clones until the shadow clone that made them dispelled. If a shadow clone makes more shadow clones and then is dispelled, all of the shadow clones that the clone made would also be dispelled, and their Chakra and knowledge would go directly to Naruto.**

**One last thing: from this point onward, there is going to be an increase in the amount of untranslated Japanese that I put in my fanfiction. Jutsu names, random comments, nicknames, etc. At the end of every chapter, after the author note, I will list every incident of untranslated Japanese and what I think it means in English except for common Naruto terms such as Konoha or Fūton. I am very open to criticism on this front! My only experience with Japanese comes from watching the original Naruto anime with English subtitles and various Naruto fanfictions. I try to use translations from these episodes, other fanfictions, and the Naruto Wiki whenever possible, but sometimes I have no choice but to try and use Google Translate, which SUCKS for anything but single words. Therefore, if you think one of my translations is crap, it probably is. I will fix any mistakes that are pointed out as quickly as possible.**

**See you all in a week!**

* * *

Japanese terms

Hōsenka no Jutsu – Art of the Phoenix Flower

Daitoppa no Jutsu – Great Breakthrough Technique

Kangekiha no Jutsu – Wave of Inspiration Technique

Ningen - Human/mortal

Kitsune no Ikari – Wrath of the Fox

Jibashi – Electromagnetic Murder


	4. A Shining Beacon

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

_**"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"**_

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'_**_Kurama Thinking'_**

_Flashbacks_

* * *

**Disclaimer: See first chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Shining Beacon**

It had been five days since the incident with the Huntress and Red, and Naruto was all set to begin his third and final year at Signal in two days.

He had spent the last five days coming to terms with the fact that he was now a killer. It may have been to defend someone, and it may have been an accident, but it was still his first kill, and he knew from his time in Konoha that the first kill was always the hardest.

For once, Kurama was actually very helpful, giving Naruto a high-level Raiton Jutsu to learn. Naruto threw himself into his training for three days, trying to forget what he had done.

Of course, it is impossible to forget something like that, and Naruto eventually had to consider the fact that he had killed someone. Two days of actual coping later, as opposed to ignoring the problem, and Naruto had come to accept that he had done what was necessary. A Shinobi had to be able to take a life for the sake of the village, and a Huntsman had to be able to take a life for the sake of the lives around him.

**_"_****_You should be thankful that you got this nonsense out of the way, fool,"_** Kurama had told him. **_"This way, you won't freeze up getting your first kill during an actual mission. Besides, the man you killed was worthless. He was weak and deserved what he got."_**

_'__To me, no one is worthless, sensei. I was called worthless once, and look what I'm capable of now.'_

At the moment, Naruto was water walking to Signal Academy. He needed to pick up his schedule and claim a locker for his final year, and that had to be done in person. While walking on the river, he gathered himself so that he could continue acting as though nothing had changed. He may have accepted his first kill, but he doubted many others would so the same, and he didn't want anyone knowing that something was wrong.

As he walked into the entrance of the combat school, Naruto looked around to see if there was anyone he knew around. When he saw who was waiting just to the left of the entryway, he immediately paled.

The Huntress from the rooftop stood with her rider's crop at the ready, prepared to counter any attempts at escape. "Well hello there, Mr. Uzumaki. Did you enjoy your little escapade earlier this week?"

Naruto swallowed to clear his throat. "Um... yes?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Now you are coming with me, and there will be no escaping this time. Any attempts will warrant severe consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto swiftly nodded "Clear as crystal."

* * *

The Huntress, who Naruto learned was named Glynda Goodwitch, escorted Naruto to a nearby police station, where she began to give him a lecture.

"I hope you understand the severity of your actions, Mr. Uzumaki. You interfered in an active combat situation, and put yourself in a great deal of danger. You could have been killed or caused the death of someone else!"

At that point, Naruto flinched visibly and couldn't help but respond. "Actually, I'm pretty sure I _saved_ a life by getting involved! You should be thanking me!"

Goodwitch narrowed her eyes at him. "What in the world are you talking about?"

Before Naruto could answer, the door opened and a silver-haired man with a cane and a mug of coffee walked in and said "I think I can answer that question for you, Glynda."

With that he pulled a Scroll out of his pocket and played footage from a surveillance camera of Red's fight with the thugs. "Oh, so that's how you guys found me," Naruto commented.

In the video, an injured thug had just gotten ahold of the shaft of Red's scythe. Goodwitch commented "I don't see how-"

Her response was cut off by the sudden appearance of a figure in the background throwing a glowing kunai. The figure disappeared and the man who was about to strike down Red was suddenly without part of his arm. Naruto managed to stop himself from flinching this time, but the silver-haired man seemed to notice that something was off.

"Allow me to slow this down a bit."

With that statement, the man with the coffee mug rewound the video a few seconds and replayed it in slow motion. When the figure appeared in the background, he paused the video and zoomed in on a perfect picture of one Uzumaki Naruto, glowing kunai in hand.

There was a surprised intake of breath from Goodwitch. "I think I see now what you mean."

The man then turned his eyes to Naruto. "So, Uzumaki Naruto, student at Signal Academy. Where in the world did you obtain such an... _interesting_ skill set?"

Naruto sighed and said "I had a couple of teachers outside of school who knew a thing or two."

The man took a sip from his mug and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And where would one find these teachers?"

Thinking of Iruka, Jiraiya, and Kakashi, none of whom he would ever see again, Naruto stared at his hands, which were clenched in his lap. "They're... not around anymore." He supposed that Kurama was still around, but he couldn't exactly tell them about him…

The expressions of the two adults softened slightly, and the man set his coffee mug down. "I'm sorry to hear that. However, I can see that you are not letting their teachings go to waste, which brings me to my next order of business. I think that Signal is perhaps not challenging enough for you. Would you perhaps consider pursuing an education on a more suitable level?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "If an opportunity presented itself to me, I'm sure I would probably take it."

"Well then allow me to first introduce myself and then present you with such an opportunity. My name is Henzel Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, and I would like you to attend my school for the upcoming term."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "You-you're serious? This is awesome!"

Ozpin smiled. "So I assume you accept the offer?"

For the first time in five days, a truly happy expression was on Naruto's face. "Of course! Who wouldn't?"

"Excellent. Now then, you will report to the airport this afternoon to board a shuttle to Beacon. Initiation is tomorrow and it is required that you stay the night at the school. The shuttle will be leaving at three o'clock sharp. Don't be late."

Naruto gave his new headmaster a salute. "Roger that, sir!"

A few minutes after Naruto had left, Goodwitch said to Ozpin "Well, at least we know what happened to that man now. You didn't tell him that the man that his knife struck died from his wounds. Are you planning on telling him?"

Ozpin took a long drink from his coffee mug. "I don't need to. I was watching his reaction to your lecture. When you mentioned that his actions might have cost someone their life, he flinched. His subsequent shouting was to cover up his feelings of guilt. Did you notice that despite the fact that the surveillance video never showed him retrieving his knife, it was never found at the scene? He retrieved it after he became invisible again, which would have brought him close enough to the body to see the state it was in. He knows what he did. I think it best that we not mention it to him for a while."

Glynda Goodwitch's eyes were widened at Ozpin's response. She nodded to him and said "I… I wish I had known. I wouldn't have been so harsh with him… Don't you think it's best if we get some help for him? So that he can cope?"

Ozpin shook his head. "He's already begun to come to terms with it on his own. It's best if we let that process complete itself without any interference. That young man is strong. He'll be alright."

* * *

-Vale Airport, 2:43-

* * *

Naruto had just finished loading up his luggage onto the shuttle and was making his way up the ramp to the passenger area. He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans, his headband and thigh pouch in their usual places. On his belt, he had strapped two sheathes. The sheath on his left side was occupied by Kitsune no Ikari, and the one on his right side by FireStorm. He had left his armor, which consisted of forearm guards, shin guards, and a set of black gloves with metal plates on the back, in his luggage for the moment.

As he arrived in the passenger area, he noticed a girl with long black hair topped by a black bow wearing a black and white outfit who was near the entrance. When she turned her head to look at the new arrival, he noticed that she had amber eyes. He thought he recognized her from somewhere, but he wasn't sure how he knew her.

It wasn't long before the ship took off for Beacon, and Naruto spent most of the ride staring out the window at the amazing view. He heard snippets of conversation going on around him, and heard something about "bee's knees" from a girl off to his right, but he mostly paid them no mind.

After a hologram of Professor Goodwitch gave them a short welcome, and a blonde kid with white armor almost puked everywhere from motion sickness, the aircraft landed and everyone exited the aircraft and headed towards the school. They had been told that their luggage would be brought to the ballroom for them to pick up later, so the new students were free to wander around for a while until the official welcome speech took place in the auditorium.

Naruto quickly got ahead of the throng of new students and began exploring. He found several trees that would be excellent for sleeping in on the nights that he felt like resting under the open sky, and also learned the basic layout of most of the school. As he concluded his exploring, he noticed that it was almost time for the official welcome, so he made his way over to the auditorium.

As he was walking towards the auditorium, another guy came onto the path he was following from a small grassy area. The guy in question wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, and black arm guards. He had what looked like a black spear strapped to his back, and his hair was shoulder length and black as night.

He ended up next to Naruto as they walked towards the auditorium. He nodded to Naruto in greeting. "Yo. You a first year student too? I'm Charles Ebony."

He held out a hand, which Naruto shook. "Is it that obvious? Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you."

Charles chuckled. "Well I figured only newbies like us would be headed to the auditorium at this point. Welcome speech to attend and all that."

Naruto nodded. "Makes sense."

They walked in silence for a minute or so before Charles tried to rekindle the conversation. "So, what combat school did you go to before this? I was at Signal."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds before answering "I was at Signal as well."

Charles's eyebrows rose. "Really? I don't remember ever seeing you in any of my classes. I thought I knew everyone in my year."

"I only completed my third year before I got recruited to come here."

The dark-haired boy stared at Naruto with an expression akin to awe. "Recruited? How in the world did you manage that?"

Naruto shrugged. "I might have burned a robber's arm off and shot a few fireballs at some Roman Torchwick guy."

Charles's jaw dropped. "You're serious? Dude! That sounds like one hell of a story."

At this point they had entered the auditorium and moved to stand with a few other students. Naruto shrugged in response to his companion's statement. "It's really not that big of a deal. I was just poking my nose in someone else's battle and managed to pick up a little too much attention for it."

As they waited, Naruto spotted a girl clad in white walking up to another girl in a black skirt and a red cloak and yelling at her for something. As the girl in red leapt up into some blonde girl's arms, Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that it was Red from the battle against Torchwick. Naruto considered going over there just to find out who she was, but decided against it.

Ever since the event that had flung him into this world, Naruto had avoided making any close friends. The betrayal he had felt made him reluctant to trust anyone else. There was a chance that Red would go full-on fangirl because of the stunts he had pulled, and that would make it difficult to keep her at a distance from him.

Not to say that he wouldn't be friendly with people, but the furthest he would go in a relationship with someone was the acquaintance level. He would often talk with people and get to know them a bit before dropping most contact with them for a while so that they would gravitate back towards their other friends. It helped that he kept a very intense training schedule that left him little time to make friends or hang out.

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by the start of the welcome speech. Ozpin took the stage and began to speak. "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose... direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Naruto took on a confused expression before turning his attention back to the stage when Professor Goodwitch began to speak. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight, and tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

* * *

-Beacon Ballroom, 10:08 pm-

* * *

Naruto had just come from the showers and was making his way over to the area that he had laid out his things. He wore black sweatpants and an orange t-shirt for pajamas. He noticed that many guys were choosing to show off for the ladies by being shirtless, and he wondered how people would react if they were to see the scars under his shirt.

Chidori wound aside, Naruto had a moderate amount of scars on his torso and to a lesser extent his arms and legs. During his time in the Elemental Nations, Kurama's Chakra would heal most wounds without scars, but it had limits. Only so much of it could be channeled in a given period of time without harming him, and if he received wounds repeatedly over a short period of time, they would begin to form scars instead of completely healing.

Twice in his life he had been caught by the villagers on one of their "fox hunts." Both of these times had left him with scars from the knives that they had carried with them.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by an orange-haired girl popping up in front of him and invading his personal space. "Are those whiskers?"

Naruto took a step back. "Um... no. They're birthmarks."

A boy with a magenta streak in his hair came up behind the girl, who was still staring at Naruto's whisker marks. "Nora, it's rude to get in other people's faces." He then turned to address Naruto. "Sorry about her."

Naruto shrugged. "It's fine. I'm Naruto by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ren. And this is-"

Ren's introduction was cut off by the energetic girl. "I'm Nora! I like pancakes!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Ooookay... That's nice. I like ramen."

The unorthodox conversation was interrupted by two voices simultaneously shouting "Oh not you again!" He turned to see the white-clad girl from the auditorium, who he began to refer to in his head as Hyōhime, facing off with a blonde girl who had assets that would make Ero-Sennin drool. Red stood off to the side, and the girl with the black bow sat with a book in her hands next to them.

As the argument between Hyōhime and the mini-Tsunade continued, Naruto noticed that the girl with the bow was wearing something similar to some of the nightgowns that were worn by women back home. He decided that he would definitely have to find out who this girl was. But at that moment, the lights went out, and Naruto decided that sleep took priority at the moment.

As Naruto drifted off, he thought about what this mysterious initiation would involve. Would it be like the Genin exam? Maybe the Chunin exam? Would they have to fight other students? That last possibility reminded him too much of the Blood Mist Village's Genin exam, so he ended that train of thought and fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yeah, sorry the chapter is shorter than usual, but trying to force extra words into it just made it seem flabby and awkward to me. I didn't want to split Initiation into two chapters, so you have a nice, 8000-word-long chapter to look forward to next time.**

**Alright, so the poll for this story is now closed, since I figure that a week and a half should be enough to get a good handle on the general opinion of my readers. Due to the survey, I have decided that I can come to one of two conclusions: either you share my opinion that having more than one character added to the host world is usually cumbersome and ineffective, or you guys ****_really_**** hate Sasuke. For a while, I thought the poll was going to be unanimous. So, Sasuke gets to stay in the Elemental Nations, and I might have to post the confrontation between Naruto and Sasuke that I imagined in that collection of discarded chapters I was talking about. I haven't actually written it yet, thus the need for the poll, but if I get bored one day, we'll see what happens.**

**Okay, so just in case it wasn't made clear before, this story will now be updated at least every other Saturday. I may choose to post on what should be an "off" Saturday if I end up with a lot of reserve chapters or I have to skip what should be an update day due to a busy schedule. If the schedule needs to change, I will mention it in an A/N.**

**Shoutout to all of my readers who have reviewed, favorited, and followed my story. Thank you guys a bunch.**

**I'll see you all in two weeks.**


	5. Initiation

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**So it's happened already: I won't be able to post anything next week because reasons, so you get to read this chapter early. Also, even if you don't care about the explanations I put in my A/N's, please at least read the last paragraph of the A/N at the end of this chapter. It's pretty important.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Initiation**

Naruto woke up when Nora tried to sneak up on him to rouse him from his sleep. His ninja senses were still as sharp as ever, and he almost pulled a kunai out before he could stop himself. As it was, he still leapt up from his prone position and grabbed the wrist of the hand she had put on his shoulder, startling Nora and Ren and making everyone who was awake stare at him.

He let go of Nora's wrist and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry about that. I don't like being snuck up on, and I just kind of reacted."

Ren narrowed his eyes, knowing that a reaction like that was usually only seen from Hunters who had years of combat experience in the field. Nora just commented excitedly on how it was morning and time to get ready.

As Naruto went through all of his morning rituals, he noticed that Nora was pestering Ren with a ferocity that few could match, and Naruto idly wondered if Ren was just used to it or if he was a robot or something.

Since Naruto had kept his weapons close to him, he didn't need to go to his locker to get anything. As soon as the announcement came that told them where to report, he headed for the cliffside in what he liked to call his Battle Outfit.

He wore tight-fitting black pants with bandages wrapped around his shins underneath. His shin guards were black with golden flames painted onto them in a way that you could still see some black through the paint, making it seem like the flames were almost real. His forearms were also wrapped in bandages, with his forearm guards over them, painted in the same manner as his shin guards. His metal-plated gloves were in place. The shirt he had on was form-fitting and dark orange. He wore a battle cloak like his father's, except it was black with golden flames with red tips on the bottom and on the sleeves, as well as a red fox with nine tails on the back. His necklace was under his shirt, and he wore a black mask like Kakashi's that left his eyes easily visible. He had replaced the cloth on his headband with dark red cloth, and his swords were strapped to his belt in the same way they were the previous day: FireStorm on his right and Kitsune no Ikari on his left. His thigh pouch was bulging slightly, as he had packed more supplies into it than he carried around on a regular day. Thinking about his supplies, Naruto realized that he had forgotten to bring his decoy Dust with him, and inwardly cursed himself.

_'__How am I going to disguise my Jutsu now?'_

Not expecting any reply, he was surprised to hear Kurama say **_"You'll just have to deal with the consequences one way or another, Kit. Either don't use any Jutsu, or come up with an explanation for how you can manipulate the forces of Nature without Dust."_**

Naruto was surprised enough that he actually stopped walking altogether. _'Kurama-sensei… you called me Kit…'_

The nine-tailed Kitsune snapped back **_"I did no such thing, brat! Don't you have someplace you need to be?"_**

Naruto laughed at the Kitsune's reaction, and continued walking with a smile on his face.

When he arrived at the cliffside, Ozpin and Goodwitch were already there. Goodwitch's eyes widened at his appearance, and Ozpin raised an eyebrow as he took a sip from his coffee mug.

"Well then, Mr. Uzumaki, I see you are ready early. That's a new look." Ozpin commented.

Naruto chuckled and pulled his mask down to be polite. "This is what I usually wear for battle when I'm prepared."

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow. "You seemed plenty prepared when you aided Miss Rose a week ago."

Naruto shook his head. "I didn't have even half of my weapons with me then. Just a few kunai. Today, I'm bringing out the big guns. Well, metaphorically speaking at least." He gestured to his two swords.

Ozpin looked at the swords with interest. "Given what you can accomplish with one of your knives, I have to wonder what you can do with one of those."

A mischievous smile spread onto Naruto's face. "I'm sure you'll see what FireStorm and Kitsune no Ikari are capable of in good time."

Just then, the other students began to arrive, and everyone took a spot on a launch pad. Naruto replaced his mask as soon as he saw the first few students coming.

Once all of the students were on their podiums, Ozpin began to speak. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." He looked towards Goodwitch, who picked up the explanation where he left off. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." Ozpin resumed speaking. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

From far off to his right, Naruto could hear a voice he recognized as Red's cry out a slightly distraught "What!?"

Ozpin ignored the outburst and continued "After you've partnered up, make your way to the Northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

A white-haired teacher preaching the "come at me with intent to kill" lesson? Naruto couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing and said "Roger that, Kakashi-sensei!"

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, and Ozpin looked at him with curiosity in his gaze. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair will choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" Ignoring the raised hand of some blond scraggly kid in front of him, Ozpin said "Good. Now, take your positions."

As the blond student began to say something, Naruto was launched into the air, followed by the rest of the students one after the other. As Naruto flew through the air, he heard a birdcall behind him that was suddenly silenced, and he heard Red's voice cry out "Birdie, no!" He chuckled to himself as he began to get closer to the trees. He pulled out two kunai with ninja wire tied to the rings and threw them at a tree in front of him and off to his left a bit.

When the kunai stuck into the tree, Naruto wrapped the ninja wires around his left hand. When the string ran out of slack, Naruto began to wind around the tree, slowing down as the ninja wire wrapped more and more around the tree. Once he had slowed to a safe speed, he let go of the wire and began tree hopping to get some distance towards the forest temple. He continued in this manner for about ten seconds before a branch snapped under his weight and he tucked and rolled to a stop on the ground.

As he was cursing the more powerful gravity of this world for making tree hopping more difficult, he heard the sound of something approaching from behind him. It was moving fast! Faster than even he could go without pumping nearly all of his Chakra into his legs! He turned towards the source of the noise just in time to see Red skidding to a stop in front of him. Their eyes locked onto each other for a few seconds before Naruto smiled and said "Well hello there. Nice to see you again, Red." Although he had avoided going to meet her before, he figured that she would make a good partner if her performance outside of the Dust shop was any indication.

Red crossed her arms with a huff. "My name's not Red! It's Ruby! And what do you mean it's nice to see me again? We've never... met... before?" She stared at him for a few seconds before her eyes widened and lit up with recognition. "Oh my God it's you! You were that guy who fought Torchwick with me!"

Naruto nodded and slid his mask down to his neck. "Yeah, that was me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Ruby started shaking with excitement, nearly hopping up and down in place. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose! It's so great to actually meet you! I mean, we were fighting Torchwick and that lady and then you just came out of nowhere and started spitting fire! That was so cool! And then the stuff with the lightning and disappearing afterwards! You were like a ninja!"

Naruto sighed. His partner was like an eight year old. But for some reason, he couldn't help but smile, her hyperactivity reminding him of how he used to be. "Well that makes sense, seeing as I _am_ a ninja. Now chill out so we can get to the temple as soon as possible. We can't afford to be slowed down at all." He replaced his mask and turned North, only to have Ruby zip to a few inches in front of him, her hands curled in front of her chest like paws and making a paddling motion. "Don't worry! I'm not slow! Let's get going!"

With that, she took off ahead, and Naruto scrambled to try and catch up. After a few seconds, he stopped in a clearing to get his bearings, mumbling to himself about stupid teammates who didn't know how to stick together. Suddenly, he heard growling, and smelled darkness around him. He took a stance, hand loosely curled around the hilt of Kitsune no Ikari, and looked around him. Out of the bushes came a small pack of Beowolves. Naruto let his hand drop from the hilt of his sword and chuckled. "Well, I've been itching for a good fight. You guys would be too easy if I drew my sword though. Let's see... Ooh! I haven't practiced the Rasengan in a while! What do you guys say? You wanna be my test dummies?"

Naruto faced towards the largest one, probably the alpha, and began gathering Chakra to his palm. He charged towards the Beowolf, completing the Rasengan on the way, but just as he was about to strike, Ruby came out of nowhere and dealt a small wound to the beast's chest with her scythe.

Naruto's eyes became wide with shock and fear. He barely had enough time to react, and managed to leap over Ruby and slam the now incomplete Rasengan into the beast's head. The kick from the Rasengan drove the beast to the ground, and Ruby finished it off by decapitating it.

Naruto put his anger with the girl on the back burner for the moment, as they had more Grimm to deal with. Standing side by side, the two looked at the small ring of Grimm closing in. Ruby planted the tip of her scythe in the ground and fired a few shots, killing two Beowolves and injuring one, while Naruto pulled out Kitsune no Ikari, coated it in wind Chakra, and decapitated a Beowolf that had charged at them. As Ruby rushed forward to kill the injured Beowolf with her scythe, Naruto sliced a second Beowolf in half at the waist after dodging a swipe from its claws, then finished off the last Beowolf by stunning it with a Sandāboruto no Jutsu _(Thunderbolt Jutsu)_ channeled through his sword then closing in to stab it through the chest.

A few seconds after he finished, Ruby felled the Beowolf she had injured before and turned to see Naruto walking up to her, sheathing his sword. She smiled at him and said "That was awesome! We really showed those Beowolves how it's done!"

Her celebration was cut off when she saw the fury in Naruto's eyes. He nearly ripped his mask off of his face and shouted "What the hell were you thinking back there!?"

Ruby withered under his gaze. "I-I don't... what are you talking about?"

"Just taking off without me with no set rendezvous point! Jumping in front of me as I was about to attack that Beowolf! Do you have _any_ sense of strategy!? Have you _EVER_ worked with a team before!? I WAS ABOUT HALF AN INCH FROM KILLING YOU!" Naruto began panting, the rage fueled by panic after almost killing his partner leaving him. So soon after his first kill, the thought of accidentally killing anyone else, let alone his partner, shook him up a fair amount.

Ruby had tears in her eyes that looked ready to spill over at any second. She had shrunk into herself at Naruto's shouting. "I-I'm sorry."

Naruto immediately felt guilty for putting her in this state. He sighed and said "It's alright. I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just... I really almost killed you, and it scared the crap out of me."

Ruby recovered a little, stowing her weapon away. "Would... would that attack have really killed me? I mean, all it did was knock that Beowolf down, and I have my Aura unlocked, so I can shield myself a bit."

Naruto looked at her and said "When I saw you jump in front of me, I was so afraid that I was going to hurt you, so focused on diverting my attack, I lost concentration and my Rasengan was weakened. If you had popped up just a second later, you would have been hit with this."

He then walked up to a thick tree, formed a Rasengan, and slammed it into the bark. It ground into the tree and then exploded, blasting all the way through the trunk and causing the top half of the tree to fall into the clearing.

Ruby's eyes were wide, seeing the fate that she had almost brought upon herself. "Oh my God..."

Naruto walked up to her and replaced his mask. "Let's just leave this little incident behind us, okay? Let's learn from it, but let's get off to a new start. Sound good?"

Ruby nodded "Right. Lesson learned. Stay together and don't be in front of attacking teammates." She wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and put a smile on her face.

Naruto smiled under his mask. "Good. We'll get to team tactics eventually, but for now, we've got a temple to raid." With that, he began to run to the North, making sure Ruby was keeping pace with him before beginning to pump a small amount of Chakra into his legs. As Ruby pulled up alongside him, she said "You're pretty fast too!" Naruto chuckled and said "Thanks. From what I saw from the air, the temple should be in this direction. How long can you keep this pace up?"

Ruby contemplated for a moment before saying "I'm not sure. I've never really tried to push my limits for endurance."

Naruto nodded. "Alright. Let's keep up this pace for a little while longer, then start walking for a while. We made quite the ruckus back in that clearing, and I'd like to put some distance between it and us before relaxing at all."

They ran for a few more minutes before Naruto figured that they had gotten enough distance from the clearing and called a halt. Ruby decided to climb a tree to see if they could see the temple from their position, and Naruto followed her upwards to get a look around as well. Thankfully, they were actually at the top of a hill at the time, so they could see even farther than they would normally be able to. They saw a clearing a few miles away that looked like it had a structure of some sort at the center, and they immediately set off for it.

After about an hour of walking, they saw the temple through the trees and picked up their pace. As they arrived, they saw two other figures looking at some pedestals that had small black or gold objects on them. Ruby immediately became exited, and with a shout of "Yang!" she took off to give the mini-Tsunade a hug. Naruto followed behind at a more leisurely pace, giving time for the two sisters to talk for a little bit. He idly noted that the blonde girl's partner was the black-haired girl with the bow that he thought he had known from somewhere.

As he stepped into the run-down temple, he heard Yang say "So, sis, who's your partner?"

Naruto reached out a hand and said "Uzumaki Naruto."

She shook his hand and said "Yang Xiao Long."

Naruto looked over at the girl with the bow. She smiled and said "Blake."

Ruby decided to add her input. "This is the guy I was telling you about, sis! He's the one who saved me while I was battling Torchwick's men!" She turned to Naruto with a sheepish gaze "I never actually thanked you for that. Thanks!"

Yang looked at Naruto with wide eyes. "You're the one who saved my sister's life? You have my thanks as well."

Naruto removed his mask again and smiled. "You're welcome. I was just glad I could help."

Yang then asked "So can you really spit fireballs, or was Ruby just exaggerating?" Blake's eyes widened at this comment and Ruby looked indignant. "Of course he can! He was all like 'Baton! I'll sink you with no shoes!' and then he spat fireballs out!" She looked at Naruto with a confused expression. "Why did you say that anyway? It was just a bunch of nonsense."

Naruto laughed and said "No, that's not what I said. I said 'Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu.'" He slowly and clearly enunciated the Jutsu name.

Blake's voice was suddenly heard. "Fire release? Art of the phoenix flower?"

Naruto looked at her in shock. "Yeah, that's the name of the technique. How do you know Japanese?"

Blake raised an eyebrow. "The usual way. I learned it. Although a better question is why would you call out the names of your attacks? And why in a dead language?"

Ruby and Yang were looking back and forth between Blake and Naruto. The latter shrugged. "Calling out the name of the technique helps my focus, and Japanese was actually my first language." All three were looking at him with curiosity now, obviously wondering why he would have a dead language as his native tongue. Before they could say anything else, Naruto said "I think that's enough time spent socializing. We should get our relics and head back to the cliffs. It's going to be a long trek back."

Ruby shook her head. "Actually, there's a place we can get back up the cliffs just a mile from here or so. I saw it when we were up in the tree."

Naruto realized that she was right. The headmaster never said that they had to return to the starting point; they just had to get back to the top of the cliffs. Yang and Ruby each took a golden horse figurine, and just as they were about to leave, they heard yelling and then the blonde scraggly guy with the sword came flying out of nowhere and hit a tree, getting caught in the branches. Ruby called out "Jaune!" but before she could climb up to help him, there was a commotion at the edge of the clearing, and an Ursa came thundering in with Nora riding on its back. After she broke it and was briefly scolded by Ren, she rushed up to the temple to take one of the golden figurines that was shaped like a tower.

As Ruby reached Jaune and began to help him get free from the branches, a Nevermore flew overhead and two figures jumped from its claws. Or rather, one figure jumped and grabbed onto the other figure, causing them both to fall. But before anyone could try to help them, they inexplicably stopped accelerating downward, and floated gently down. As the two airborne figures got closer to the temple, they could see and hear Weiss Schnee screaming and yelling at Charles Ebony, who had the heiress in his arms.

The two landed safely just in time to see another figure running into the clearing. She had long red hair and was dressed in bronze armor. She carried a spear and was being chased by a huge Deathstalker. As everyone else gathered around the temple, the girl was knocked into their group, landing on Jaune and knocking him over. Yang smiled and sarcastically said "Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!"

Ruby smirked back at her and said "Not if I can help it. Naruto, if I make an opening for you on that Deathstalker, can you nail it with that orb thingy?"

Naruto nodded. "Rasengan combo take two is a go. Just make sure you get clear this time."

She nodded and they charged, Naruto already molding Chakra in his right palm and Ruby using her semblance to get ahead of him and give her some room to dodge. Yang began to run after them with a cry of "Ruby, wait!"

Ruby, however, did not wait, and smashed her scythe into the Deathstalker. Unfortunately, it blocked with its pincer, but Ruby rolled to the side and struck it again. While it was distracted trying to hit Ruby, Naruto jumped into the air. With a yell of "Rasengan!" Naruto drove the swirling ball of energy into the armored back of the giant scorpion. Unfortunately, it appeared that the bone armor of the Grimms was incredibly durable, and only allowed the Rasengan to grind into it very slowly.

With a roar of pain, the Deathstalker thrashed around, throwing Naruto off as he detonated the Rasengan on the Deathstalker's back. There was a spurt of blood, and the armor plating was deeply scratched in a spiral pattern, but the beast's injuries were only minor. As Naruto began to prepare a second attack, the trees behind him were snapped over as a giant snake barreled its way into the clearing and struck at Naruto. He rolled to the side and sliced the eye of the Taijitu** with FireStorm. He was not prepared, however, for its tail to circle around and smack him in the back, knocking him into the mouth of the monster. With a lunging motion, it swallowed him whole.

"NARUTO! NO!" Ruby was so distraught at seeing her partner get eaten that she didn't notice that the Deathstalker had reared its tail back to strike at her. Yang, who had just reached the battleground, tackled her out of the way, and the giant stinger was lodged into the ground. Weiss, seeing an opportunity, rushed forward and used a Dust Spell to freeze the Deathstalker's tail in place before it could get free. The others were all occupied with dodging feathers that the Nevermore had rained down upon them while those with ranged weapons were firing shots at it, trying to do whatever damage they could.

Ruby had tears streaming down her face, and she was choking back sobs. Her partner had just been killed in the process of following one of her plans, and she would never forgive herself. She and Yang got up and turned to face the snake, which had turned its gaze to them. Yang snarled at it. "I'm going to make that thing pay! For Naruto!" She charged at the snake, but before she could even fire a shot with Ember Celica, it fell to the ground and started writhing. Suddenly, its side exploded open, showering Ruby, Weiss, and Yang with guts and flesh.

Out of the large hole in the now dead Grimm walked a very angry Naruto. "Why the absolute _fuck_ does every snake I ever meet try to FUCKING EAT ME!?"

Ruby's eyes were wide as she covered her mouth with her hand, her virgin ears reeling from Naruto's cursing. But she quickly recovered and used all of her speed to catch the slimy ninja in a massive hug. She didn't notice him freeze up upon being enveloped by the hug, as she was too exuberant. "You're alive! You're alive!" Tears streamed down her face again, this time in relief, but after a few seconds the slimy feeling caught up with her excitement at seeing her partner alive and she jumped back from him and began trying to shake the slime off of herself. "EEW! Gross gross gross gross gross!"

Ruby's reaction snapped Naruto out of his frozen posture, and he chuckled and coated his body in Chakra, which he then used to force most of the blood and slime to slide off of him. "Nice to see you too."

Everyone gathered at the temple again, and Jaune commented "That bird thing is circling back."

Weiss looked around and said "There's no point in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us. Let's just take our relics and leave."

Ruby nodded. "She's right. There's no point in fighting these guys."

Jaune smiled. "Run and live. That is an idea I can get behind."

The teams who didn't have relics quickly grabbed the closest pieces, Jaune getting a golden rook and Weiss grabbing a golden bishop. Then everyone began heading Northwest to the nearest cliffside at a swift pace. As they left, the Deathstalker began to break free, and a few Ursi wandered out of the woods behind it, drawn to the temple by the noise and smell of blood.

As they began their run to the cliffs, Yang and Ruby fell into stride beside Naruto, with Blake on Yang's other side. Yang glanced over at Naruto and said "You know, the way you reacted when you popped that Taijitu makes it seem like that's happened before."

Naruto chuckled and replied "This is the third time I've been swallowed whole by a giant snake. I've got a Standard Operating Procedure for it at this point. In fact, I've killed more snakes now from the inside than the outside."

The three girls gaped at him for a moment before deciding that there was a better time and place for this discussion.

The group of ten prospective students made their way toward a set of ruins build over a deep canyon that was up against the cliffs. It was connected to both the cliffs and the other side of the canyon by two stone bridges. As they moved out of the cover of the trees, the Nevermore from before began to fly overhead. Everyone quickly took cover behind the pillars that led up to the ruins and watched as the Nevermore landed on the skeleton of the tower up ahead of them. Yang commented "Well that's great!"

Before they had time to formulate a plan, the trees were broken behind them, and the Deathstalker came lumbering out, followed by two Ursai. Jaune turned and said "Aw man! Everybody run!" Everyone broke cover as the Nevermore began to rain feathers down at them and Ren yelled "Nora, distract it!"

She complied happily, launching grenade after pink grenade at the monstrous bird as it took off from the ruins, dodging feathers as she went. She even managed to score a few direct hits. The Deathstalker and one of the Ursai came up behind her, but they were attacked by Blake, Ren, and Charles while Weiss used her glyphs to pull Nora to safety. The five of them started running for the bridge, and Pyrrha dropped to a knee to give them covering fire while they retreated.

As they began to cross the bridge, disaster struck. The Nevermore had circled back around and rammed into part of the bridge, causing it to collapse. Ren, Blake, Pyrrha, Charles, and Weiss were on the side connected to the mainland, and were backed into a metaphorical corner by the Deathstalker and the two Ursai. The Ursai were behind the Deathstalker, so when Weiss used her glyphs to propel herself and Charles over the Deathstalker to outflank it, they had to defend themselves instead of relieving pressure from the others as they had intended. Meanwhile, Blake had begun to slash at the Deathstalker with her ribbon-knife as Ren and Pyrrha pelted it with gunfire. Ruby was firing at the Nevermore, and Naruto drew FireStorm to add to the barrage.

Jaune watched as Blake was knocked back by the Deathstalker, and three Beowolves ran out of the trees, replacing the Ursa that Weiss had managed to kill with a fire glyph. "Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!"

Nora hefted Magnhild and said "Let's do this!"

Jaune looked at the drop below them nervously and said "Yeah, but, uh... I can't make that jump."

He regretted those words as Nora smiled evilly, knocked him backwards with Magnhild before shifting it to hammer form, and used said form to launch the both of them over to the other side. Nora was quick to smash the Deathstalker's head with her hammer, but was knocked back into Blake, who was knocked off of the edge of the bridge.

The black-clad girl, seeing the Nevermore above her, fired the pistol form of Gambol Shroud into the side of a pillar and swung up using its ribbon to get in front of the Nevermore. Using her Semblance, she flickered up onto its head and began landing blows on it as she ran down its spine. Reaching its tail, she jumped off and landed on the top of a broken wall before jumping down to land next to Yang, Naruto, and Ruby. "It's tougher than it looks," she warned her companions, to which Yang responded "Then let's hit it with everything we've got."

The four began firing their weapons at it, but it didn't seem to deter it. It smashed the tower underneath them, causing the tower to collapse and forcing them to use the falling debris as stepping stones to get to stable ground. Naruto snarled and said "This doesn't appear to be working."

Ruby turned towards him and said "Do you have any other kind of magic fireballs that might be able to hurt it?"

Naruto clenched his fists. "My techniques don't do as much damage to these things as they do to most things. Rasengan should have killed that Deathstalker. I'd need something very powerful to do any damage to..." He trailed off as he remembered the technique he had been working on.

Ruby moved closer as Naruto fell silent. "What is it? Do you have something."

He nodded. "I could use my new technique. I've never used it in battle before, but it would kill that thing for sure. But it takes nearly a whole minute to charge up and unleash."

Ruby's eyes widened. "That's a long time in a battle. Let's get with the others and form a plan to distract that thing then."

Naruto nodded and the two jumped over to confer with Blake and Yang.

As this was happening, The Deathstalker had weakened the bridge underneath Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, forcing them to charge it to try and get on solid ground. Pyrrha and Jaune deflected the pincers of the beast with their shields and struck blows at it with their weapons, while Ren grabbed ahold of the beast's stinger and fired countless rounds into the weak joint above the gold colored appendage. As he did this, Nora fired grenades at the Deathstalker's face, and Pyrrha threw her spear into its eye. The enraged beast flung Ren into a distant pillar, but the damage had been done.

Seeing the stinger was loose, Jaune called out "Pyrrha!" and gestured to the stinger. She replied "Done!" and flung her shield, severing the stinger, which fell and impaled the beast through the wound that Naruto had dealt to it earlier. Jaune saw the opportunity for what it was and said "Nora, nail it!"

She hefted her hammer and with a cry of "Heads up!" jumped onto Pyrrha's shield, which had returned to her after bouncing off of a pillar. She was flung into the air by the girl, aided by the recoil of Magnhild, and fell down towards the Deathstalker. She smashed the back of the stinger with Magnhild as Pyrrha and Jaune jumped over the Deathstalker to safety, Pyrrha retrieving her spear along the way. Ren was being attended to by Weiss, who was forming a low-powered healing glyph, while Charles finished off the last of the Beowolves. As they all gathered at the edge of the canyon, exhausted, they turned to witness the rest of the battle between the others and the Nevermore.

Naruto had just leapt up to the top of a pillar, while Ruby, Yang, and Blake were distracting the bird with copious amounts of gunfire. The Nevermore had circled just a bit too close to Blake for its own good, and she flashed onto its back with her Semblance. She struck at its wing joints with Gambol Shroud in katana form, but it only managed to snap a few feathers off before she was forced to jump off of the beast as it spun around to shake her off.

Then, Naruto began to weave hand seals as golden Aura surrounded him. The others could hear an ethereal chanting coming from him.

"Tora… Uma… U… Ne… I… Tatsu… Ushi… U… Uma… Tori… Ne… Tora… Tatsu… Mi… Tora..."

Nora couldn't help wondering aloud "What is he doing?"

Ren's eyes had gone wide as he remembered something. "There was an incident last week where an unidentified youth entered an ongoing battle between a Huntress and the crime boss Roman Torchwick. The reports said that he called upon Nature's Wrath, but without using Dust."

The others stared at Ren wide-eyed as he continued. "Instead, he rapidly made strange hand gestures. Apparently, he launched a massive barrage of fireballs with only six of these gestures. I get the feeling that Naruto is that unidentified combatant. And if six of those gestures equals a barrage of fireballs..." He trailed off, but the others had come to the same conclusion; whatever Naruto was doing, it would be big.

"Saru… Uma… Hitsuji… Tori… Tatsu… Tora… Hitsuji… Ne… Kotahi… I… Saru… Tatsu… Tori… Tora… Uma..."

As Naruto continued to chant and weave seals, Yang struck the Nevermore's head directly with one of her fiery shotgun blasts. Enraged, it flew directly at her, mouth opened to swallow her, only to have her jump at it and pin its mouth open with a foot on its lower jaw and a hand on its upper jaw. She yelled at it "I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" and punctuated each word with a blast down its gullet from Ember Celica. Throughout this time, the chant went on.

"Hitsuji… Tora… Mi… Ne… U… Tatsu… Tora… U… I… Tatsu… Hitsuji… Ne… Tora… Saru… Tori..."

Yang leapt off as the Nevermore crashed into the cliffside. As it tried to recover, Yang retreated and reloaded, ready to continue firing. But that would prove to be unnecessary.

"Kotahi… Tatsu… Ne… I… Saru… Tora! Katon: Gōkaryū no Jutsu!" _(Great Fire Dragon Jutsu)_

Naruto raised his hand to his mouth and from his mouth poured golden flames that condensed and took the shape of a massive dragon. It was nearly 100 feet long and ten feet wide at its thickest point. This golden dragon flew straight for the Nevermore and wrapped its serpentine body around the bird, trapping it in its coils. As the dragon pinned the Nevermore against the cliffside, Naruto had gone back to weaving hand seals, but at a much faster pace.

"Tori, Saru, U, Inu, Mi, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Ne, Tora, Tatsu, Tori..."

Yang, Ruby, and Blake lowered their weapons, staring at the giant fire dragon in awe. The others were in a similar position already.

"Saru, Inu, Hitsuji, Tori, Hitsuji, Ne, Tora, Tori, Tatsu, Tora, Tori..."

The Nevermore struggled against the coils of the dragon, but the flames did not budge.

"Inu, Hitsuji, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji, Tora, Tatsu, I, Tori, Hitsuji, Ne, Inu, Saru..."

The smell of burning flesh reached the prospective students as the Nevermore began to smolder in the searing coils of the dragon.

"Tori, Tora, Tatsu, I, Tori! Fūton: Kazeryūdan no Jutsu!" _(Wind Dragon Bullet Jutsu)_

Naruto kept his hands in the last seal that they had formed, and the winds swirled around him to form a second dragon of the same proportions that flew in the exact opposite direction from the Nevermore before turning around and flying straight at the trapped Grimm. Just before the wind dragon impacted, Naruto shouted "Konbijutsu: Asahi no Ryū!" _(Collaboration Jutsu: Rising Sun Dragons)_

The wind dragon struck the fire dragon at an incredible speed, and everyone was forced to avert their eyes as the resulting explosion shone as bright as the sun for a few brief moments. When they could look again, the cliffside was alight with golden fire in many places, and all that was left of the Nevermore was a pile of smoldering ash. In his mind Naruto heard Kurama say **_"Congratulations on your first successful original Jutsu, Kit." _**Naruto was too exhausted to even register the fact that Kyūbi had called him "Kit" for the second time that day. The golden Aura around him faded, and he felt himself beginning to lose his balance. He had successfully mixed most of his Aura and Chi back into Chakra to overcharge the Jutsu, but it had cost him.

Back on the ground, Charles summed up what everyone was thinking with two words. "Holy shit…"

Ruby and Yang gave a huge cheer after recovering from the shock, but their celebration was cut short as they heard Blake's distressed cry of "Naruto!"

They turned to see their ally fall from the pillar, headed downward toward what was left of the bridge. The three of them rushed over to the black-cloaked blonde, who managed to tuck and roll as he hit the bridge, minimizing the damage done.

When they got to him, he was laying on his back, eyes closed, and panting. Sweat coated his face. Ruby knelt next to her partner and lifted his head off of the hard stone and into the crook of her arm, pulling his mask off to help him breathe easier. "Naruto! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

"I'm... fine... Ruby... Just... exhausted... Ah..." His words were separated by his gasps for air. Naruto knew that he could have averted this level of absolute exhaustion by shifting into his Hanyou form before performing the two Jutsu. He also knew that his current state could be alleviated by transforming, but it would raise too many questions if he suddenly had fox ears and two tails. "Help... me... up?"

Ruby nodded and with Yang's help, dragged Naruto to his feet, one of his arms around each of them. His eyes eased open just in time to see the rest of their little group make their way over to their position.

Weiss was the first one to arrive. "How in the world did you do that!? I've never seen anything like it, even with Dust Spells! Dragons made up of forces of Nature!"

Naruto had begun to catch his breath. "Long story... Crazy teachers... Lots of practice... Very exhausting…"

However, this didn't seem to appease Weiss. "But surely more people would be able to do things like that if they only required teaching and practice. Is it your Semblance that lets you do things like that?"

Seeing the opportunity to cover for his lack of Dust, Naruto nodded. "Yeah. We can… talk more later…"

He tried to remove his arms from Yang and Rubys shoulders, but they held onto his hands, preventing him from doing so. Yang scolded him. "Oh no you don't, Whiskers. You'll just keel right over in your condition."

"But we need... to get... to the top of the cliffs... You can't... carry me... when we're climbing."

"Now you listen here, Naruto," Ruby said. "You are not going anywhere until you've rested."

Naruto looked at her imploringly. "More Grimm might come... We need to leave."

Ruby shook her head. "Absolutely not. If any more Grimm come, I'll take care of them. You're my partner, and I won't let you get yourself hurt."

Yang looked at her sister. "You won't have to do it alone sis. I'll stay here until you're ready to go as well."

Blake nodded "As will I."

Jaune stepped forward. "I'll watch your back too."

Pyrrha stepped forward to stand next to Jaune. "And I will as well."

Nora swung her hammer a few times. "If any Grimm come for you, I'll smash their faces in!"

Ren smiled at her antics. "And I'll make sure Nora doesn't accidentally blow you up."

As Nora huffed indignantly, Charles smiled and said "I'll stick around too. Might see something else that blows my mind."

Weiss looked like she wanted to argue with her partner, but then shrugged and said "I guess I'll stay as well."

Naruto wasn't able to speak for several seconds, too overcome by emotion. _'This is what comrades _should_ be like_.' He smiled a genuine smile then, and said "Thank you. All of you."

Ruby and Yang moved him over to a pillar and set him down so that he could lean against it. As they all sat down to catch whatever rest they could, he heard Ruby ask from her spot beside him "So what other stuff can you do? Aside from making exploding orbs and summoning dragons?"

Naruto thought for a moment before saying "Well, I'm learning to do a similar dragon technique with Lightning, but I haven't quite got the hang of it. The main three elements I can manipulate are Fire, Wind, and Lightning, but I'm not as good with Lightning as I am with the other two. I can do some small things with Earth, but I haven't practiced them much. You've already seen the Rasengan. That's about it. That was my ultimate technique you just saw. It really shouldn't be possible for me to do something like that until I'm older, even among people who can do things like that. I have a bit of a... special condition. Even so, it exhausted me more than I thought it would. If I tried to use any of my other major techniques at the moment, I'd probably die..."

Everyone's eyes widened, and Ruby asked with horror in her voice "You mean those techniques could kill you!?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. That's a surprise to you?"

Pyrrha commented "Yes. We've always been taught that you can't be killed just by using up too much Aura. The worst that can happen is you go into a coma for a few days from Aura exhaustion. Where in the world did you learn how to use attacks like that?"

Naruto looked down at his knees for a few seconds. "They were taught to me by a few teachers. One of them was the best teacher I've ever had. The other two... they were okay... I guess."

Ren furrowed his eyebrows. "It seems irresponsible to me for a teacher to be instructing someone our age how to use skills that could potentially kill the user."

Naruto laughed. "Well one of them did throw me off a cliff to force me to access my inner power, so you might be right." He looked up to see horrified expressions looking back at him. "Oh chill out. It worked, which is why I'm here to talk to you."

Yang looked at him as if he was crazy. "Right. Remind me to never accept lessons from your so called 'teachers.'"

After a few seconds of silence, Weiss decided to question her partner. "You never did tell me how you managed to float us down from the Nevermore. What exactly is your Semblance?"

Charles shrugged and said "I can manipulate gravity in an area close to me. It's pretty useless in combat, but good for not dying from falls."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. "Can you make things heavier as well?"

Charles nodded. "Yeah, but I don't see how that could help."

Naruto facepalmed. "Crush Grimm under heavy gravity. Throw them off balance by making half of them lighter. Jump higher under less gravity to avoid attacks. Come on, Charles. You've got to be creative with your Semblance."

Charles was a bit shocked at all of the possibilities he hadn't considered. "I never thought of... How is it that in like twenty seconds you think of all of these things, but in three years I haven't?"

Naruto shrugged. "I've learned to be able to think on my feet when combat abilities are involved."

At that point, Naruto figured that they had been resting for long enough. "Well, I'm good to go. Let's climb a cliff, shall we?"

He then got up, but had to stand still for a moment as his head swam. The others stood up from their resting positions. Ruby looked at him with concern. "Are you sure? We can rest a bit longer."

Naruto nodded. "I'll be fine. We've been out here long enough as it is."

They all made their way to the cliffs and began to climb. Several of them used their weapons to cut handholds into the rock. Naruto almost fell a few times, but Ruby was always there to reach out a hand to steady him. He thanked her with a grateful smile each time. Once he was halfway up the cliffside, he tried channeling a little bit of Chakra to his feet and found that it was harder than usual, but still well within his ability to do so. He took inventory of his Chakra levels, and estimated that he had enough spare Chakra to surface walk the rest of the way up.

When Naruto stopped climbing for several seconds, Ruby became concerned. "Naruto? Are you alright?" Naruto looked at her and smiled. "Yup. I'm fine. In fact, I'm well enough to get us both to the top of this cliff." Ruby's eyes widened. "You don't mean with one of your techniques, do you?" Naruto nodded. Ruby gave him her most stern look, which just made her seem cute more than anything else, and said "Naruto! I will not allow you to hurt yourself just to- EEP!"

Her lecture was cut off by Naruto suddenly letting go of the cliffside and scooping her up in his arms. He was standing horizontally on the cliffside, feet glowing a slight blue. "Hold on." he said, before beginning to run straight up the cliffside.

Everyone else watched with a mixture of worry and amusement as Ruby and Naruto passed all of them and made it to the top of the cliff.

Once they had made it to the top, Naruto gently set down a blushing Ruby and sat down to rest. "See? We're both fine. I know my limits."

Ruby recovered from her blushing and said "Thanks. That was actually... really fun." Her blush re-emerged, but wasn't noticed by an oblivious Naruto. He was busy looking back at the cliff's edge. "You know... I could go and help..." His suggestion was cut off by Ruby, who grabbed his shoulders from behind and kept him in his sitting position. "Oh no you don't! You're going to stay right here so you don't hurt yourself!"

Naruto reluctantly agreed, and the two partners sat and waited for everyone else to reach the top.

* * *

**A/N:**

****A Taijitu, as opposed to a King Taijitu, has only one head, and is therefore just a regular giant snake.**

**The hand seal "Kotahi" is one that I created. In the Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu, there is a hand sign known as "Jin," and it is referred to as the "Yang Water" sign. "Kotahi" is my "Yang Fire" sign that acts as the counterpart of "Jin" for the Gōkaryū no Jutsu, or the Great Fire Dragon Jutsu. To form it, you would put your palms together in front of you, then align your right pinky finger with your left middle finger, and your right ring finger with your left index finger. You would then curl the index and middle fingers of your right hand to grasp your left hand between the thumb and index finger, while curling your left pinky and ring fingers to grasp your right hand just below the pinky finger.**

**Also, I make a distinction in my story between two different types of dragon Jutsus. A Dragon Bullet Jutsu, like Kazeryūdan no Jutsu or Suiryūdan no Jutsu, is a slightly less difficult dragon Jutsu in which the dragon created needs to be controlled directly by the user and is mostly used for a single charge against an enemy. Great Dragon Jutsus, on the other hand, such as Gōkaryū no Jutsu, are a little more difficult. The dragon created is more durable and can be given a simple task to do automatically, such as "pin that Nevermore to that cliff." In exchange, of course, the user needs to use more hand seals and more Chakra.**

**One final thing: I probably should have done this earlier, but if anyone would like to contribute any fan art to act as the cover to this story, I would greatly appreciate it, and I would give credit to you in the A/N of every chapter of this story. If you are not artistically inclined, but would like to recommend someone else's artwork from a site like deviantart, I would also appreciate that. However, I would prefer not to have to try to contact the artist for permission to use their work, as that might take a while, so fan art of a user's own creation will take precedence. The fan art in question can be pretty much anything RWBY or Naruto related. Bonus points if it has to do with both, and if it showcases the main characters of this story.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Sandāboruto no Jutsu - Art of the Thunderbolt

Hōsenka no Jutsu - Art of the Phoenix Flower

Gōkaryū no Jutsu - Great Fire Dragon Technique

Kazeryūdan no Jutsu - Wind Dragon Bullet Technique

Konbijutsu: Asahi no Ryū - Collaboration Technique: Rising Sun Dragons

Suiryūdan no Jutsu - Water Dragon Bullet Technique


	6. The Badge, the Burden, and Bad Teachers

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Badge, the Burden, and Bad Teachers**

* * *

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark."

Everyone was at the assembly for the announcement of the teams, and Naruto had recovered about a fourth of his Chakra, which meant that he no longer showed any signs of his complete exhaustion. After all of their little group had made it up the cliff, an airship had come to pick them all up. They had been given time to clean up and then gathered back in the auditorium, where they were now.

"You retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."

The four men left the stage area, as Weiss, Charles, and two others wales up to the stage.

One of the two wore dark blue pants and a shirt of a matching color that had black trim. She had a breastplate with a stylized wave design on, as well as a forearm guard on her left arm that had a plate of armor on the inside of her arm. The reason for this was the very large bow and matching quiver strapped to her back. She also had a golden belt that had several large pouches hanging from it. Her platinum-blonde hair was tied up in a bun, and her eyes were a dark blue, slightly violet color.

The other was a wolf Faunus, his gray ears and tail displayed proudly. His gaze was intense, as if daring anyone to try and discriminate against him. He had several short hunting knives strapped to him in various places, and a pistol on each hip. He wore a short-sleeved black shirt with a gray wolf head on the front, and black, gray, and white camouflage-patterned pants. He had a green headband on that held back his black hair from falling into his eyes, which were yellow and wolf-like, for obvious reasons.

"Weiss Schnee, Charles Ebony, Indigo Unda, and Timber Grey."

Naruto's eyes widened as Ozpin announced the last name. _'Could he be related to Aaron?'_

"The four of you retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team WITE, led by Weiss Schnee."

The heiress looked slightly smug, and the four of them left the stage to be replaced by Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc."

Jaune was completely flabbergasted, and Pyrrha's friendly punch knocked him over. His teammates helped him up and they left the stage to be replaced by Ruby, Naruto, Blake, and Yang.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Uzumaki Naruto, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team RUBY, led by Ruby Rose."

Yang immediately trapped her sister in a bear hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

As the ceremony closed, Ozpin commented "It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."

He seemed to be looking directly at Naruto when he said this.

After the ceremony was over, team RUBY headed right back to the dorms and got ready for bed as quickly as possible. They were all exhausted from the events of the day, Naruto in particular. As soon as he was in his sleepwear, he crawled under the covers and was out like a light.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto woke up to the sound of a loud whistle. He leapt out of bed and onto the ceiling, landing in a crouch and instinctively reaching for a kunai from his thigh pouch, which wasn't there at the moment. He relaxed slightly when he remembered where he was.

Ruby, Blake, and Yang were all already up and in uniform, and were looking at their teammate with more than a little surprise as he hung above their heads with a grumpy expression on his face.

"Ruby," he said with an irritated look, "I assume you have a good reason for using a whistle to wake me up?"

Ruby looked sheepish. "Um… we need to unpack and decorate the room?"

Naruto sighed and dropped down from the ceiling, landing on his feet with ease. "Was it really better than just poking me or something?"

Ruby didn't have an answer to that, and Naruto went into the bathroom that their dorm room came equipped with to change into his uniform. When he came back into the room, his teammates had already begun arranging their possessions, and he joined them.

By the time they were finished decorating, the four beds had become piled up in the center of the room. Naruto looked at the beds and said "Well this isn't going to work. We'll need to ditch some of our stuff."

Ruby crossed her arms. "Or we could just ditch the beds... and replace them with BUNK BEDS!"

"It would be pretty efficient," commented Blake.

Fifteen minutes later, one bed was suspended from the ceiling with ropes, and another was balanced on top of the posts of the one below it, with some books to increase the amount of space for the lower bunk.

Naruto looked at the setup skeptically. "This looks like it's going to end up killing someone."

Kurama chuckled evilly. **_"Just consider it a form of training. You'll have to be constantly on guard for danger. Or aren't you Shinobi enough for it?"_**

Naruto nearly growled out loud at Kurama's insinuation, and Yang punched his shoulder lightly. "Don't be such a worrywart, Whiskers."

Ruby smiled and said "Alright! Mission accomplished. Now for the next order of business," her face fell, and her voice lost its enthusiasm. "Classes. Okay, we have a few classes together. At nine o clock we have Grimm Studies-"

She was cut off by Naruto. "I hate to end your briefing prematurely, fearless leader, but the class you just mentioned starts in seven minutes."

She was silent for a moment before raising a fist in the air and saying "To class!" She burst out the door, followed by the rest of team RUBY as well as team JNPR, who had been reminded of the class by all of the shouting from Ruby, and they ran with all haste towards the Grimm Studies classroom.

When they arrived, they noticed that team WITE also had the same Grimm Studies class with them. In fact, it looked like all of the first year students were in the class. It was probably a standard course for everyone. Ruby ended up sitting next to Weiss on her right, and Naruto on her left. Yang and Blake sat farther to her left, and team JNPR was in the row behind them.

The professor, a rotund man with an incredibly bushy mustache, began his lecture. "Monsters! Demons! Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey. Ha ha!"

Professor Port's loud laugh snapped Ruby out of her nap with a slight outcry, which earned her a dirty glare from Weiss and an amused look from Naruto.

After getting no laughs from the class, the professor continued the lecture. "Uh... and you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses!" He then winked at Yang, who looked like she wanted to vomit.

Kurama snorted. **_"Foolish ningen. He cares more for posturing and bragging than getting anything accomplished."_**

Naruto silently agreed with his sensei, and began to copy the drawings and labels of the various species of Grimm on the wall behind Professor Port instead of taking notes on the lecture itself.

Meanwhile, Ruby was also putting her pencil and paper to use as Professor Port began to tell a useless anecdote about him fighting a Beowulf. Naruto was at first surprised that she would be taking notes so studiously on such a useless lecture. He then looked at what she was writing to see if she was also copying the diagrams behind Port, only to be forced to stifle his laughter at an unflattering caricature of the professor.

Weiss looked at Ruby with disdain and disapproval upon seeing the picture, and her expression became haughty as Professor Port began to list the characteristics that he said a true Hunter must embody. It was obvious that she thought herself to be a better Huntress than those around her. That expression reminded Naruto of Sasuke; it was the expression of someone who thought themselves superior to all others. Naruto's face adopted look of disdain and disgust as he compared Hyōhime to his old teammate.

The professor's lecture ended with the question "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of all of these traits?"

Naruto knew that Hyōhime was going to declare herself to be a true Huntress, just to show how much better she was than everyone else. He could tell by the arrogant expression on her face, so he beat her to it. "I do, Professor."

He looked at Naruto and said "Ah, yes. Mr. Uzumaki. Well then, step forward and face your opponent! Oh, and please limit the amount of destructive force you use in my classroom."

Naruto nodded and went to retrieve his combat gear. "Don't worry, Professor. I can do precision as well as blowing things up."

He returned quickly, wearing his Battle Outfit. Those who hadn't seen it in the Emerald forest stared a little, impressed at how intimidating he could look. He stood across the room from the cage and stood in a relaxed stance, his hand resting on the hilt of Kitsune no Ikari.

His team yelled encouragement. Yang shouted "Go Naruto!"

Blake said "Fight well!"

Ruby was the most enthusiastic. "Yeah! Represent Team RUBY!"

He heard Weiss scoff at their words, and he turned and gave them a smile. Even under the mask, he was sure they could tell he was silently thanking them for their support.

"All right! Let the match begin!" With that exclamation, Professor Port used his musket-axe to chop the lock off of the cage and release a Boarbatusk. It charged at Naruto, who remained completely still as it approached him. The students began to worry as the Grimm got closer, thinking that Naruto was going to get gored.

When the Boarbatusk was only a few feet away, and some of the more squeamish students were looking away or covering their eyes, a sudden clashing noise was heard, and Naruto's sword was sunk about an inch into the tusks of the beast. Everyone in the room collectively gasped, and their thoughts were on a similar track: _'He's fast!'_ Indeed, the only ones who had seen his sword move were Ruby, who was used to moving at such high speeds, and Professor Port himself, who was experienced enough that he had anticipated what Naruto was going to do.

As Naruto and the Boarbatusk grappled, Naruto thought _'Damn! This thing's armor is too tough to cut without pumping the blade with Wind Chakra, and that would cause too much collateral damage!'_

Professor Port used the opportunity for a teaching moment. "You should know, class, that out of all of the Grimm in our world, a Boarbatusk's armor is the strongest. You'll have to try a different tactic if you want to kill it, Mr. Uzumaki."

**_"_****_Of course. _****Now****_ he starts teaching."_**

Naruto broke the grapple by spinning to his left, yanking Kitsune no Ikari out of the Grimm's tusks as he went, and kicked the Boarbatusk's flank to drive it a few feet away from him.

"Hang in there, Naruto!"

As Ruby shouted her encouragement, the Boarbatusk charged at Naruto again. He struck at its slightly less armored flank as he sidestepped it, scoring a small cut. He then had an idea, and a mischievous look came into his eyes. _'I said I'd show him precision, and so I will.'_

Kurama saw his plan, and smiled in approval. **_"A strategy worthy of a Kitsune. I will enjoy the expression on the fat fool's face when you pull this off."_**

To everyone's shock, Naruto sheathed his sword and stared at the Boarbatusk as it wheeled around and charged again. They were less surprised this time when he repeated his opening move, but his sword went deeper. They all thought that he had put more strength into it, but Professor Port's eyes had gone so wide that you could actually see them.

_'He... he struck in the exact same place! He used the previous damage he dealt and built on it!'_

As they grappled a second time, Ruby yelled out "Naruto! Go for its underbelly! There's no armor there!"

Naruto gave a nod to his team leader as he broke the second grapple by kicking the Boarbatusk in the face and then slashed its snout.

Enraged, the Grimm charged past him, earning it another shallow cut, before it curled into a spinning ball and rolled with great speed towards Naruto.

Naruto knew that he wouldn't be able to strike the same spot a third time with human eyesight, so he did something impulsive and reckless; he did a partial Transformation, calling out his slit-pupil eyes to better perceive the enemy.

Time seemed to slow down as Naruto shifted his stance and struck. The upper halves of the Boarbatusk's tusks went flying, and the beast fell on its side, unbalanced. Naruto quickly ran over and pumped Fire Chakra into Kitsune no Ikari. He kicked the Boarbatusk onto its back and stabbed it in the stomach, his glowing blade incinerating the flesh of the beast, leaving its faceplate and armored pieces behind.

The other students were in utter shock, some of them now realizing what Naruto had done, as Naruto calmly walked over to the fallen tusks and picked them up for trophies before going to put his combat gear back in his locker.

After he had left, Weiss turned to Ruby and said "It must be awful for someone as skilled as him to be forced to take orders from someone like you."

Before Ruby could respond, the class was dismissed, and Weiss walked out of the door. She sat there stunned for a moment before getting up to follow Weiss.

Naruto arrived back into the classroom just in time to see a shocked-looking Ruby moving at a faster-than-normal pace after Weiss. Naruto followed Ruby out as she caught up to Weiss, but stayed hidden in the shadows. "What was that supposed to mean, Weiss?"

The icy girl turned and with a haughty look, said "It means that you obviously aren't fit to lead a team. You're childish, your academic skills are obviously subpar, and I just don't see how you contribute anything to the team as a leader. It's obvious that your team shares the same sentiment as well. Naruto was looking at your foolish antics like you were something nasty stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Ozpin made a mistake making you a leader."

Ruby looked crushed by her harsh words, looking at the ground as Weiss walked away. Naruto was nearly shaking with rage. Not only had Weiss insulted his team leader, which may as well have been a direct insult to him and the entire team as well, she had misinterpreted his disgust with her haughtiness as disgust toward Ruby. Before he could go and comfort the poor girl, Ozpin himself walked up to her and began speaking to her. Naruto decided to confront Weiss about what she had said while Ruby was still occupied. Channeling a little more Kitsune Chakra, he enhanced his sense of smell enough to allow him to track Weiss.

Kurama decided to give him a warning. **_"Don't act rashly. Defending your friends is one thing, but if you transform because you lost control, you will have a lot of trouble to deal with."_**

_'__I know what I'm doing, sensei. Once I find her, I'll shift back to being completely human. My own KI should be more than enough for what I have planned.'_

After following her scent for a few minutes, Naruto found the girl on a balcony nearby, standing at the railing looking out at the surrounding area. Repressing the Kitsune Chakra he had been channeling, he silently walked up until he was next to her without her noticing. "You know nothing about who is fit to lead."

His sudden words caused her to jump with a small scream of surprise and take a step away from him. "Where did you come from!? And what in the world are you talking about?"

He looked at her and allowed some of his Killing Intent to permeate the air. She took another step back as the sense of dread hit her. "Your words to Ruby not even five minutes ago. You know NOTHING! You think that academic success and your so-called maturity make a leader? They are insignificant in comparison to what really matters. You think it was at Ruby I looked with disgust? No. It was you and your arrogance! You think you're so much better than everyone else? That is one mark against you already as a leader. Ruby may not be a great leader yet, but she has everything it takes to become one, and she is well on her way. She will be a much better leader than you could ever hope to be. Don't ever dare to insult her again."

Naruto turned and walked away, keeping his KI pressure on Weiss until he had turned the corner. He heard a thump as the girl collapsed to her knees behind him. He began walking back to where Ozpin was talking with Ruby, and he heard a chuckle in his mind. **_"Well done, Kit. I'm willing to bet that that ningen won't go anywhere near you for a few days."_**

Naruto smiled at the praise. As he came back to the area where the classroom was, he saw Ozpin walking away, leaving a more determined-looking Ruby behind. He walked up to her and said "So, did you get a good pep talk?"

Ruby jumped a little, and turned to face him. However, she quickly looked down at the ground, remembering what Weiss had said about Naruto's opinion of her. "Naruto... do... do you think I'm a bad leader?"

Naruto moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're young, inexperienced, and you lack tactical knowledge..." with each word, Ruby felt worse and worse. "but that doesn't matter."

She looked up at him with hope in her eyes. "Age, experience, and knowledge will come later. Right now, you already have the most important thing for being a leader. You care about your team with all your heart. That is what matters the most. Weiss was wrong. It was her sense of superiority that disgusted me, as well as how she insulted you and assumed that I shared her opinion. Don't listen to what she says."

Ruby smiled at him, tears shimmering in her eyes. "Thank you."

Naruto gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before walking in the direction of the cafeteria to get some breakfast. Ruby stood still for a few seconds before slowly following him, her smile still on her face.

* * *

After breakfast, Naruto wandered the school a bit more, wanting to know the layout of the place better. Ruby had said she had some sort of work to do after she had finished eating, and had disappeared in the direction of the library.

As he was walking outside of the Administration wings, he saw a hologram board with some official-looking posts displayed on it. He walked up to the board and began to read them. They were all headed similarly.

Available D ranked missions  
Available C ranked missions  
Available B ranked missions

Naruto was intrigued, and decided to find a professor and ask about how to get a mission. So he walked in the nearest door and began to wander around, hoping to find a professor nearby. He turned a corner and saw Professor Port and Professor Ozpin talking to each other. He began to walk towards them, willing to wait for their discussion to end before asking about the missions, when he heard Port saying "...seen anything like it before from a student! It was extraordinary enough that he was able to damage the Boarbatusk's armor at all, but to cleave through the tusks by striking the same spot three times? How did you find this boy, Headmaster?"

Ozpin took a sip from his coffee. "You remember Glynda's report that concerned Miss Rose?"

"Yes, but what does that... Wait, you mean to tell me that he was the boy who stepped in?"

Ozpin nodded. "He appears to have an ability to become invisible, and I'm sure you've heard how he can use Nature's Wrath without Dust, although it can apparently kill him if he uses it too much. I've been doing some research into exactly what Semblance could produce those effects, but…" Ozpin then noticed that Naruto was only about ten feet away from them and said "Ah, Mr. Uzumaki. We were just discussing your recent battle with the Boarbatusk. Is there something you needed?"

Naruto smiled "Well I was walking around and saw a hologram board with some posts on it talking about available missions. I was wondering what that was about, and how I could take on a mission."

Ozpin smiled. "So eager already? You have to be ranked first before taking any missions, so you'll have to wait a bit longer. Fairly frequently, villages, individuals, or the Vale police department issue missions to Beacon to do things such as hunt down packs of Grimm that are causing trouble, escort important shipments through Grimm-occupied territory, or to hunt down criminals who have managed to get their hands on too much Dust. Beacon is more than just a school. Most of the time, we distribute these missions to active Hunters and Huntresses, but we put some missions up for students to accept. This way, our students can get some experience in the field and earn some extra money. Also, you need to complete some missions to graduate. You'll learn how the ranking system works later this week, when you're tested."

Naruto smiled and said "I'm looking forward to it then. Thanks for the explanation."

Before he could leave, Ozpin said "I do have one question for you. What exactly is a Kakashi sensei?"

Naruto busted out laughing. "I forgot that I said that! Kakashi was one of my earlier sensei, or teachers. He took on me and two other students to have us work in a squad. The first day we met with him, he gave us a test; we had to take some bells from him. He told us 'come at me with the intent to kill, or you will never get these bells.' He also had silver hair, and your 'destroy everything in your path or you will die' speech just reminded me of him."

Naruto bid Ozpin a farewell and began to walk back towards the exit. After he had left, Professor Port looked to Ozpin and said in a shocked voice "What kind of teacher tells his students to try to kill him?"

Ozpin sipped his coffee. "One who has absolute confidence in his own abilities, and is training his students to kill… I may have to watch Naruto more closely than I previously thought. I assumed that the death of the robber at the Dust shop was an accident… but now I'm not so sure…"

* * *

-later that night-

* * *

When Naruto returned to team RUBY's room, he saw a light on in Ruby's curtained-off area around her bed, which she had christened "Fort Rose." Climbing up to the opening in the curtain, he smiled when he saw Ruby slumped over a book, asleep, empty coffee mug next to her.

Looking over at the coffee maker, he saw that there was still some fresh coffee left. He gently shook her arm to wake her. Her eyes eased open and looked at Naruto for a moment before she remembered what she had been doing and said "Ah! Naruto! I was studying and I fell asleep. Thanks for waking me up."

Naruto smiled at her and said "How do you like your coffee?"

It took her a moment to realize what he was offering. "You don't have to do that for me. I can-"

She was cut off by Naruto covering her mouth gently with his hand. "I know I don't have to. I want to. You're putting effort into gaining knowledge, so I should do what I can to help. So, tell me, how do you like your coffee?"

Naruto didn't notice the slight blush that had emerged on Ruby's cheeks when he had covered her mouth, and it had disappeared by the time he withdrew his hand. "Um, one cream and five sugars."

Grabbing her discarded mug, Naruto prepared the coffee to her specifications and brought it to her. "Here you go. You know, without even realizing it, you're following the motto of the warriors from my home."

Ruby tilted her head with a questioning look. "What motto is that?"

"If you lack Heaven, seek wisdom; become prepared. If you lack Earth, seek advantages; run in the fields. With both Heaven and Earth, all your efforts will bear fruit." As he said this, Naruto grabbed his pajamas and headed towards the bathroom.

Ruby was confused, and asked "What does that mean?"

Naruto paused before he entered the bathroom. "You'll understand eventually, Ruby." He shut the door behind him, and came out a minute later in his pajamas and crawled into bed. "Goodnight Ruby."

Ruby let her upper body hang over the side of the bed, her upside down face smiling at Naruto. "Goodnight Naruto. And thank you. For everything."

As Naruto closed his eyes, he said "My pleasure to help, Taichō."

Ruby looked confused, wondering what Taichō was, but decided that it wasn't worth disturbing him further. She continued studying, and a few minutes after midnight, she set her books on the shelf next to Fort Rose and turned off her light, succumbing to sleep's sweet embrace.

* * *

**A/N:**

**So, Ozpin is suspicious of Naruto, and will undoubtedly be investigating him and his "Semblance" very thoroughly. What will come of this, I wonder? (Actually, I don't wonder, since I already know.)**

**This is where the big changes start coming into play. Weiss gets her own team, and two new characters enter the story. This is the last of the OCs I plan on introducing, and I only made them to complete Team WITE. I'll admit that there is a possibility that they will get very little characterization so that I can focus on the important characters, but we'll see what happens.**

**Thanks again to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You guys rock.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Ningen – Human/mortal

Taichō – An honorific like sensei or sempai. Refers to a captain or squad leader.


	7. Training Begins

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

Jutsus

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**One of my reviewers raised the question of whether it was really necessary to put Jutsus in Japanese, and mentioned that it forces readers to scroll down to the translation list and scroll back up to figure out what the Jutsus were. So, in this chapter, I am trying out some on-the-spot translations for Jutsu names and other bits of Japanese that most people wouldn't know just from watching Naruto.**

**I will put up a poll on my profile. Please let me know what you think of this system, and if most people like it, I will continue to do it in future chapters, and I will edit my previous chapters to include it as well. If most people dislike it, I will remove them from this chapter.**

**Until then, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Training Begins**

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was up and ready before the rest of his team. He began to sort through his standard ninja equipment, making sure that his thigh pouch had five kunai each of his meteorite metal, standard steel, explosive tagged, and attached to ninja wire. He also restocked his smoke pellet supply from his bag and put ten steel shuriken into it too. He included a pack of ten loose explosive tags as well. As he did this, he glanced at the Boarbatusk tusks that he had mounted on the wall above his bed, smiling as he remembered Professor Port's expression when he cut them off of the Grimm.

By the time he had finished, the rest of his team was up and had almost finished getting ready. Yang was drying her hair after her shower, which took a considerable amount of time, Ruby had just finished cleaning up from her late study session, and Blake was reading a book, as usual.

Naruto decided that now was as good a time as any to enact the idea he had been thinking about since yesterday. He walked up to Ruby and said, quietly enough so that only Ruby could hear him over Yang's hairdryer, "Hey, Ruby, I found out something yesterday that I think you should know about."

Ruby looked at him with curiosity. "What is it?"

"I found out that we will be assigned ranks later this week that will determine what type of missions we can take from our professors. Apparently we will get ranks both as individuals and as a team overall. It might be a good idea to be prepared for whatever tests the professors are going to put us through."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Okay... what should we do to prepare?"

Naruto smiled with amusement. "That's your call. I'm just delivering information and a recommendation, as is my duty. It's up to you as the team leader to make a decision based on it."

As he walked over to his desk, he heard Kurama say **_"We will see if this ningen is able to handle the position given to her." _**

Naruto put a notebook and a few pencils in his bag and replied_ 'I have absolute faith in her. I meant what I said about her having what it takes to be a great leader.' _He spared a glance over to Ruby to see that she was deep in thought.

After Yang had finished drying her hair, and Naruto had packed his bag for the day, Ruby made a decision. "Alright! Time for a team meeting, Team RUBY!"

Blake put her book down, and Yang and Naruto turned to face Ruby. "A team meeting? Since when do we have those?" Yang asked.

Ruby crossed her arms and said "Since right now! We have some important business that needs taking care of. Naruto told me that later this week, we are going to get ranks, and we should all be prepared so we can rank as high as possible. So, I am calling a team practice session later today! We do have some classes, so how about we all meet back here at 4:00?"

Yang shrugged. "Sounds fine to me." Blake nodded her approval, and Naruto smiled, proud of Ruby for using her authority properly. "I will look forward to it. However, I have a class for now, so I will see you all at 4." He left the room with his bag, and the three girls went back to their usual business.

Ruby also had class soon, and began to gather her supplies. After she was finished gathering everything, she looked at Blake for a moment, who had gone back to reading her book. She walked up to Blake, and said "Hey, Blake? You know that other language that Naruto knows, right?"

Blake looked up from her book. "You mean Japanese? I know enough to get by. I'm not completely fluent though. Why do you ask?"

Ruby looked like she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask Blake her question. "Well, Naruto said something yesterday and I just wanted to know what it meant. What is Taichō?"

Blake looked surprised. "Did Naruto call you Taichō?"

Ruby nodded, feeling nervous. "Is that a bad thing? What does it mean?"

With a smile, Blake put her book down. "It means he really respects you. Taichō means 'captain.' It's what a soldier would call his or her commanding officer to show respect."

A massive smile spread across Ruby's face. Naruto was a powerful Huntsman, and given the fiasco with the Beowolves during initiation, his respect meant a great deal to her. As she went to class and the hours passed, the smile never completely faded from her face. She did her best to pay attention, but she couldn't help thinking about the previous night and how Naruto got coffee for her and called her "captain." He was the first person to refer to her by her title like that, and that made it feel even more special to her.

* * *

After lunch, Ruby went to her Unarmed Combat class, which she had with Yang. She sat next to her sister and as the professor began the short lecture before the imminent spars, she was still caught up in her thoughts with a slight smile. She blushed slightly as she remembered how Naruto had quelled her protests to his offer of coffee.

Unfortunately for Ruby, Yang had been observing her, having already noticed that she seemed distracted. Yang noticed the blush, and smiled mischievously. "So, Ruby, what's on your mind? Thinking about someone, are we?"

Ruby looked back at Yang as her eyes widened. "What? No, of course not. Why would I be thinking about anyone?"

She quickly looked away and her blush deepened slightly in embarrassment for being caught, and Yang's smile got wider. "Oh, you are _so_ thinking about someone. So, who is it that my dearest little sister has a crush on?"

Ruby nearly fell out of her chair in shock. "Nobody! I don't have a crush!"

At that moment, the professor told the class to divide into pairs to practice some basic unarmed combat, and Yang put an arm around Ruby's shoulders before she could bolt, leading her to one of the rings just outside the classroom. "Whether you admit it or not sis, you got a crush. Daydreaming? Blushing? Denying it? All signs of infatuation. So, who is it?"

"But it's not... I don't... He's not..." Ruby tried to form a coherent rebuttal and failed as Yang faced off with her and took a stance. She barely even noticed her sister throwing her out of the ring once the professor gave the call to begin.

_'Is it true? Do I really have a crush on Naruto?'_

* * *

Back at team RUBY's room, Naruto had just returned from his second class of the day, which was Botany, his notebook full of notes on edible and poisonous plants. Blake was in the room as well, having returned from lunch just a few minutes before. It was 3:35 and Ruby and Yang would probably be returning soon.

"Hi Blake." Naruto greeted.

Blake smiled back at him. "Hello Naruto. Enjoy your class?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess. I learned not to eat Nightshade, so that's good at least."

"Yes, I suppose that is a good thing," Blake said before going back to reading.

Naruto put his notebooks on his desk, which he had switched with the bookshelf that had rested between the two sets of bunk beds the day that they had redecorated the room. It was actually a very efficient rearrangement, as the movable bookshelf was now underneath one of the sets of wall-mounted bookshelves, while his desk made an excellent step up that allowed Ruby and Yang to get up to their bunk beds more easily. The extra light from the window would also be nice for when he needed to work on delicate Fuinjutsu constructs.

Once he had finished organizing his things, he turned back toward Blake, who didn't notice him looking at her as she read her book. He hesitated for a moment before saying "Hey, Blake?"

Blake looked up from her book again and said "Yeah?"

"I was just wondering… why did you decide to learn Japanese?"

"Well," Blake said as she closed her book and set it on the bed next to her, "when I was younger, I was always fascinated with some of the old legends that were passed down in my… family." If Naruto noticed her slight hesitation, he didn't show it. "I kind of developed a passion for these legends and myths of strange creatures and warriors who could cut lightning in half with their weapons, so I was always trying to find new stories to read."

Something seemed familiar about a warrior who could cut lightning, but Naruto couldn't place where he might have heard that before as Blake continued. "The thing was, a lot of the oldest and best stories were originally written in Japanese. Some of them were never translated properly. I wanted to be able to read those stories too, so I got a friend to teach me Japanese. It took nearly a year before I got the hang of it, but it was worth it. I've kept in practice as much as possible, although it's hard to come by good copies of stories in Japanese. They're usually pretty expensive."

"That's as good a reason as any," Naruto said. "I can relate to that passion for legends. Some old legends were a big part of what motivated me to want to become a warrior."

Blake looked interested. "Really? Any legends in particular?"

Naruto smirked. The tales of the previous Hokages' feats were pretty legendary after all. "There was a great warrior from my home who had a very powerful Ke- um… Semblance." He caught himself before he could say Kekkei Genkai on accident.

"He could control trees and wood, and could use his own energy to help them grow. The legend says that one day, he came upon a wasteland that had once been a beautiful place. Battles and war had torn it apart, and it saddened him. So he reached out with his power, and gave the command: Jukai Kōtan _(Deep Forest Emergence)_. From the wasteland, saplings sprouted, and began to grow. For three days and three nights he stood upon a clifftop overlooking the wastelands before him, and he slowly transformed it into a lush forest. After he had exhausted himself, he looked down at the forest he had created, and smiled. A village was built at the base of that cliffside, and the people put the forest's creator's likeness on the face of it, so that they would always remember who had given them their beautiful home."

"Wow…" Blake looked surprised. "I've never heard of that one before… but why would that inspire you to become a warrior? Sure it was a great feat to accomplish with Aura, but it doesn't really scream 'Huntsman.'"

With a smile, Naruto said "The man was a great warrior, remember? That story gives me… I don't know if you'd call it hope, or peace of mind even. It just makes me think that destroying things doesn't have to be my entire existence. Even if I'm a warrior who can cause so much destruction, I can create things too. I can promote life and help people in ways other than killing things."

Blake was at a loss for words for a moment. "That's… really profound actually."

At that moment, the door to the dorm room opened, and Yang and Ruby walked in. Ruby's cheeks were a little red, and Yang looked smug about something. It was obvious that Yang had been teasing her younger sister about something, and by the looks of it, was very successful.

Ruby ignored Yang as best she could, and grabbed her battle skirt and the rest of her outfit, dropping off her school things as she did so. She quickly went into the bathroom to change, shutting the door behind her.

Blake, who was already in her usual outfit, looked at Yang with curiosity in her gaze. "What's got her upset?"

Yang began to change into her fighting outfit in front of her two teammates, not caring if they got an eyeful. "Oh, she's just mad that I figured out that she's got a crush on someone. I couldn't get her to tell me who it was, though."

"So, Taichō has a love interest now?" Naruto asked. "That could be interesting." He had looked away from Yang while she was changing, and turned back to see that his fellow blonde was fully clothed again.

By the time Ruby had come out of the bathroom, now in her black and red skirt and hood, Blake had regained her composure, and Naruto walked into the bathroom with his own clothes.

Yang tilted her head as the door shut behind him. "I wonder why he changes in the bathroom all the time. He doesn't seem like he'd be the shy type."

Ruby shrugged and blushed, imagining Naruto changing with her in the room. Blake looked at Yang and said "He might just be shy about his body. You can be outgoing and still a little modest as well."

Yang shrugged. "Maybe..."

At that point, Naruto returned, dressed in a black t-shirt with an orange Uzumaki spiral on it and black shorts with an orange stripe down the sides. His right thigh had bandages wrapped tightly around it, with his thigh pouch secured properly. "Alrighty then," he said. "Let's get going."

* * *

After they had retrieved their primary weapons from their lockers, they all headed to the training arena, which consisted of an area of grassy, slightly uneven ground surrounded by a large ellipse painted on the ground to provide a boundary marking.

Ruby gathered everyone around and said "Okay, now that we're all here, let's start with... um..." She glanced over at Naruto, as if hoping he would have an answer. "What exactly should we do?"

Kurama snorted. **_"Is she the leader of this team or are you?"_**

Naruto shushed Kurama mentally. _'She's new at this, and she hasn't had the advantage of having a ten thousand-year-old Demon Lord in her head to teach her.'_ Kurama was appeased by the implied thanks, and Naruto focused his attention back on his teammates. "Let's form up into teams of two and spar with each other for a while, switching partners every few minutes. That way, we can begin getting used to working in smaller units within our squad should the need arise. This will also get us more accustomed to each other's fighting styles both as a comrade and as an enemy. When you know your teammates well enough, you can perform combos and plans with very little preparation or communication. First up, let's do Yang and me versus Blake and Ruby."

Throughout Naruto's short speech, the three other members of the team had different reactions.

Ruby looked at the ground, slightly embarrassed that she had no idea what to do and had made Naruto step in to pick up the slack, but also grateful to him for his help.

Yang smiled at the chance to fight with everyone on the team and to show off a bit.

Blake narrowed her eyes slightly. Naruto sounded like an experienced soldier who had worked in a small squad often, but where would he had gotten that type of experience?

Naruto and Yang began moving to the North end of the arena, while Blake and Ruby went to the South end. They had all applied shielding Dust to their weapons, making it so that they couldn't do too much damage, and had loaded their firearms with very weak rounds for the same purpose. "You ready, Whiskers?"

Naruto's eye twitched at Yang's nickname for him. "Always. Warn me if you're going to get closer than a few feet to me though. I am known to coat myself in fire occasionally."

Yang looked at him with a massive smile. "That won't be a problem. I'm known to do the same."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Really? Awesome."

Yang nodded. "Yup. From this day forward, we will be known as Team Hot Stuff!"

Kurama laughed and Naruto facepalmed as both teams reached their respective places. Naruto readied himself and called out "Okay, GO!"

All four of them immediately began to rush forward. Yang fired a few shots from Ember Celica as she went, while Ruby did the same with Crescent Rose. Blake and Naruto drew their blades, and both teams started dodging the others' shots as they ran. Blake was clipped by one of Yang's fireballs on her leg as she approached, and Naruto took a direct hit to the stomach with one of Ruby's Dust rounds, slowing him for a moment so that Yang clashed with Blake and Ruby before he got there.

Naruto formed a cloak of golden flames around him as he came up behind Yang, who was forced to play defense by the two-on one assault, and had taken a few minor hits because of it. He jumped over Yang, landing between Ruby and Blake and forcing them to scatter after scoring a few hot strikes to both of them.

Team Hot Stuff went back-to-back as Ruby and Blake moved in to renew their assault. Blake came after Naruto while Yang was forced to deal with Ruby's incredibly powerful scythe attacks. Using FireStorm, Naruto proceeded to block several swings from Blake's katana before flaring his fire out towards her, forcing her to jump back and give him room to swing Firestorm at her. She blocked the strikes he tried to land before using her Semblance to flash back away from him and shift Gambol Shroud into pistol form.

Throughout this time, Naruto heard Ruby firing Crescent Rose in the background, using recoil to put more force into her swings. Naruto called out "Yang, roll left now!" before sheathing his sword and rolling to his right as Blake fired her pistol. They heard Ruby cry out as the shot hit her, as Yang had rolled with Naruto out of the way.

Naruto glanced at Yang, who looked slightly battered. "It's a bad idea to try and block Ruby's attacks," Yang said as the two teams had a mini stare-down. "We can't try to go back to back and stand our ground again."

Naruto nodded. "Then let's go on the attack this time." Yang smiled and they both charged, Naruto heading for Ruby this time as Yang began to fire at Blake. Ruby fired a few shots at Naruto as he approached, but he was able to dodge all of them this time around. As he approached, he wove a few hand seals and shouted "Fūton: Daitoppa!" _(__Great Breakthrough__)_

Ruby was blown backwards by a large gust of wind from Naruto's palms, and sunk Crescent Rose's blade into the ground to anchor herself. Naruto used this opening to land a kick to her shoulder, knocking her a few yards towards Blake, who was engaged in a furious bout of close-quarters combat with Yang. Blake's blades blurred as they swung at Yang and blocked the blonde's Dust-powered punches. When Ruby landed, Blake jumped back to her to defend her while she recovered.

As Ruby got up, Yang began to fire her Dust rounds at Blake, who deflected them to defend Ruby. Naruto wove an Inu seal followed by a Hitsuji seal. He clapped his hands together and shouted "Fūton: Reppūshō!" _(__Gale Palm__)_

A smaller but more concentrated gust of wind flew at Blake, and collided with one of the Dust rounds Yang was firing, causing a large explosion that threw both Blake and Ruby backwards.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he shouted "Stop! Spar over!" He ran over to Blake and Ruby, who were slowly standing up, followed closely by Yang. Yang immediately hauled her sister to her feet and checked to see if she was okay, while Naruto helped Blake regain her feet and asked "Are you okay? Are you burned at all?"

Blake smiled and said "I'm fine. I have a few minor burns, but I'll be fine to fight if we can rest a little. I think I caught most of the explosion, so Ruby should be fine as well." As she spoke, her Aura began to slowly heal the few burns she had sustained, and she sat down to rest.

Naruto nodded, relieved, as Ruby and Yang walked over to them. Ruby asked "Why did your shot explode, Yang? I thought you were using practice shells."

Yang looked horrified. "I... I was. I must have accidentally had an explosive round mixed in. I'm so sorry. Are you okay Blake?"

Blake nodded as Naruto said "Actually, Yang, the explosion was my fault." Everyone looked at him with confusion. "You all remember how my two dragons exploded, right?" They nodded. "My Wind techniques charge air with a lot of energy that can be used as a fuel source for Fire techniques, causing large explosions when they collide. Apparently it does the same thing with Fire Dust. I didn't realize that it could do that until now."

Ruby replied "So your attacks can make Yang's attacks more powerful?" He nodded and she pouted. "It's not fair having to fight you and Yang at the same time."

Yang was looking relieved at this point, happy that it wasn't her lack of organization that had caused near disaster. "Then let's mix up the teams; we're stopping for a few minutes anyway. I'm thinking me and Rubes versus Whiskers and Blakey. That way, I'll have plenty of opportunity to get revenge on you for almost blowing up my sister and my partner."

Yang was smiling evilly and Naruto nodded. "Sounds fine to me." He was hoping that Yang would make good on her threat of revenge so that he could take the brunt of the attacks to give Blake some breathing room, since she was the most battered out of all of them. "Tell us when you're ready, Blake."

After a few minutes, during which Ruby retrieved Crescent Rose, Blake got up and said "I've rested enough; let's resume."

Each mini-team walked to opposite ends of the arena. On the way, Naruto asked Blake "So, any ideas for a mini-team name?"

Blake raised an eyebrow at him. "A what?"

"Well apparently Yang and I are 'Team Hot Stuff.' I figured we'd make a name for each two-man squad."

They reached their position and turned around, facing Yang and Ruby. Blake was silent for a moment before saying "I've got nothing."

Naruto nodded. "Well we can figure it out later. GO!" This last word began the bout, and both teams charged at each other. Naruto drew FireStorm and shifted it into rifle form. Blake saw what he was doing and shifted Gambol Shroud into pistol mode. They simultaneously stopped and Naruto dropped to a knee.

A barrage of Dust rounds flew at Yang and Ruby, who stopped their charge and began to block and dodge for a few seconds before returning the barrage with some rounds of their own, forcing Naruto and Blake to begin dodging as well. Every shot from Yang's gauntlets was aimed at Naruto, while Ruby split her shots about evenly. All four of them sustained a few minor hits, and one of Ruby's shots hit Naruto in his ankle, bruising it slightly.

Naruto decided that he had had enough of this standoff and sheathed FireStorm. Pushing Chakra into his legs, he charged at Ruby, knowing that Yang would probably go after him as well. He drew Kitsune no Ikari and swung it, only to have it knocked aside by Crescent Rose.

The next thirty seconds were a blur to Naruto as he ducked, darted, and dodged to try and get away from the spinning angel of death that was Ruby Rose. He barely had a chance to launch an attack, and only managed to land a single glancing blow to Ruby's arm, whereas she scored several major strikes on him that would have left bruises or broken bones if he hadn't used his Aura to shield him.

As he was trying to form a plan, he suddenly felt something hit him in the face and explode, flinging him almost ten yards away. He landed with a roll and stood up to see Yang standing next to Ruby, her fist still extended from punching him. Blake used her Semblance to jump next to Naruto. "Sorry. I tried to hold her off, but she got past me."

Naruto smiled "That's fine." He spat out some blood. "It's time to change our strategy." He then swung Kitsune no Ikari in front of them, channeling Chakra through one of the seal arrays within the blade, and a wave of lightning shot out towards Ruby and Yang. He heard another whisper. **_"Good. If they can beat you at short range, make the fight long ranged."_**

Ruby and Yang were both too shocked at the sudden attack to dodge completely, so they were both shocked. Naruto and Blake rushed forward while they were still recovering. Blake began to fight Ruby, using her Semblance to stay away from the blade of Crescent Rose, while Naruto swung Kitsune no Ikari at Yang. When Yang blocked it with Ember Celica, she felt electricity course through her again. Jumping back away from the blade, she saw that Naruto's sword was sparking. She remembered him mentioning an ability to create lightning, and groaned as she realized that she would have to dodge his attacks instead of blocking.

Naruto charged forward and Yang fired several shots at him before running out of ammunition. She didn't have a chance to reload as she was forced to quickly dodge several swings from Naruto's sword. She saw an opening as he overextended after an overhead swing, and swung a fist into his chest. He rolled backwards with the hit to dissipate the force, leaving Kitsune no Ikari stuck in the ground near Yang. He came up already weaving seals, and Yang rushed him, trying to interrupt him before he could finish.

Her attempt did not succeed, and with a shout of "Fūton: Daitoppa!" _(__Great Breakthrough__)_ Yang was blown back and fell to the ground. She tried to get up only to feel a slight pressure at her throat. Naruto had rushed after her as she was tumbling, and the tip of FireStorm was pointed at her larynx.

Naruto smiled. "Game over, Yang."

Looking over at Blake and Ruby, Yang saw that Ruby was wrapped up in Blake's ribbons, immobilized. "I guess you win, Whiskers. Now let me up already!" She smacked his sword aside and stood up. Naruto sheathed FireStorm, and walked over to retrieve Kitsune no Ikari. Meanwhile, Blake untangled Ruby, who collapsed Crescent Rose and hooked it onto her belt.

Once the four had gathered all of their weapons, they all met up in the center of the arena. Naruto said "Okay, next up is Ruby and me versus Yang and Blake. After this bout, we'll take a 15 minute break to discuss small squad tactics and ideas for combo attacks."

Yang and Blake looked at each other and smirked before looking back at Naruto and Ruby. Yang said "You two are so going down."

Naruto just raised an eyebrow, while Ruby crossed her arms and pouted before saying "No way! We're the best!"

Yang shook her head. "Nobody can beat Team... Uh... Team Bumblebee! Yeah!"

Blake looked at her partner and raised an eyebrow. "Team Bumblebee?"

Yang and Blake began to walk to the South end of the arena, and Ruby and Naruto heard Yang saying "Yeah, black and yellow, you know?"

Chuckling, Naruto began walking to the North side of the arena, closely followed by Ruby, who said "What should our team name be?"

Naruto thought for a moment before saying "How about Team Petalstorm?"

Ruby tilted her head. "Petalstorm?"

Naruto nodded to her and smiled. "When you use your Semblance, it creates little tornadoes of rose petals, and my name means maelstrom, so I figured it fit."

Ruby smiled back at him. "I like it. Team Petalstorm..."

She trailed off as they reached their place. Turning and taking their stances, they saw that Yang and Blake were in position as well. Naruto smirked and shouted "GO!"

The four teammates charged at each other. Nobody chose to use long-ranged attacks this time around, and so they all met in the middle of the arena. Naruto slashed at Blake with Kitsune no Ikari, but was blocked by her katana. Yang fought against Ruby, darting and dodging around Crescent Rose as she looked for an opening.

Naruto and Blake fought katana against katana for a while. Their swordsmanship was very closely matched, Naruto's speed from slight Chakra enhancement allowing him to counter Blake's superior skill with the katana. Deciding to see if he could force an opening, Naruto manifested golden flames on the blade of Kitsune no Ikari and shot them out at Blake with a few of his strikes. It paid off, as Blake jumped backwards to avoid the fire, giving Naruto room to launch another small wave of lightning. Blake avoided it by using her Semblance again, but Naruto's attention was drawn to his right as Yang dodged a strike from Ruby, landing her a little too close to him for her own good.

In a fashion similar to a particular Green Beast, Naruto ran toward Yang before jumping into the air and striking her in the back with a flying kick. Fortunately for everyone, he resisted the temptation to exclaim "Dynamic Action," knowing that it would incur the wrath of Kurama, and landed safely.

Yang, on the other hand, was anything but safe. Knocked forward into Ruby's strike zone and left off-balance by the kick, she was quickly struck down and pinned by Ruby's scythe.

Turning back toward Blake, Naruto regretted watching for that extra second to see Yang's defeat, as he was met by a sword to the leg. Stumbling sideways, he swung Kitsune no Ikari at Blake, but was disarmed when she sidestepped and struck his wrist hard enough to crack one or two of his bones. Ignoring the pain, Naruto jumped back and wove a quick series of hand seals. He finished them just as Blake began to swing Gambol Shroud at him.

"Fūton: Suishin Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" _(__Propelling Tornado__)_

Blake was pushed back a few feet by the winds that began to swirl around Naruto. She planted her feet and decided to wait out the effects of the Jutsu.

Naruto, however, wasn't planning on waiting for long. A few seconds after he began the Jutsu, he suddenly leapt towards Blake, his body being shot forward by the wind like a bullet. Blake had barely enough time to react, and swung Gambol Shroud wildly at Naruto.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Gambol Shroud struck his right wrist for the second time that match. With an awful snap, Naruto's wrist suddenly was consumed by a jolt of pain. However, being the shinobi he was, he ignored this new pain as well. With his left hand, he grabbed Blake by the throat and pinned her to the ground, kneeling on the hand that held Gambol Shroud so that she couldn't use it against him.

With Blake and Yang both pinned, the match was declared over, and Naruto went to retrieve his dropped sword. He walked over to Kitsune no Ikari, but as he went to pick it up, another jolt of pain from his wrist caused him to grunt in pain and drop the sword. It did not go unnoticed by his teammates.

After he had sheathed Kitsune no Ikari with his left hand and returned to his teammates, Ruby asked "Is your wrist alright, Naruto?"

He looked down at his wrist, which was red and beginning to swell. "I'll be okay after we rest. The fifteen minute break should be enough."

Yang looked at him skeptically. "You sure there, Whiskers? I've had some experience with broken wrists, and it looks like you might have one. Can you move your fingers?"

Naruto defiantly said "Of course I can." He tried to move his fingers, but found them to be stiffer than usual. Grimacing slightly, he forced his hand to curl up into a fist and uncurl. "See?"

Yang gave him an amused look "Yeah. I see that your wrist is broken."

Naruto wouldn't concede the point. "No it's not! I'm just fine." He wiggled his fingers to prove a point, but they wiggled jerkily, and his left fist and jaw clenched. It was obvious that it hurt him to move his hand.

Ruby, who had been worrying about him ever since he dropped his sword, couldn't watch him cause himself pain anymore. She grabbed his forearm just below his wrist, making sure not to jostle it, and said "Stop! Please stop it Naruto! Don't hurt yourself more just to prove a stupid point. Please…"

Naruto looked into Ruby's eyes and saw something he had only rarely seen before: genuine concern for his wellbeing. He stopped moving his hand and allowed his arm to relax in Ruby's grip. "Okay. I'll stop." Ruby released his arm and he lowered it slowly to his side. "I'll admit it; my wrist is broken. But honestly, by the time we finish talking tactics, I'll be healed enough to fight."

Yang and Blake looked at him skeptically, while Ruby seemed to get mad at him. The red-hooded girl crossed her arms and said "You just agreed to stop hurting yourself to prove a point! There's no way you can heal a broken wrist in fifteen minutes! We're taking you to the infirmary this minute to get it looked at."

Naruto smiled and chuckled. "I heal much faster than most people, Ruby. The break isn't that bad, so it won't take very long to heal."

Ruby poked him in the chest to emphasize her point. "I don't care how fast you heal; there's no way you can heal from a broken wrist in fifteen minutes. Even if you burn up all of your Aura healing yourself, it still takes hours to properly fix a broken bone."

Naruto smirked. "I think a more visible demonstration of my healing prowess is in order." With those words, he drew one of his kunai in his left hand and, before any of his teammates could stop him, made a deep cut on his right forearm.

His teammates all cried out in shocked protest, and Ruby knocked the kunai out of his hand with a cry of "What are you doing!? Why would you do that!?"

As Blake reached for her medical kit, which she kept strapped to her back where it was protected by Gambol Shroud's sheathe, Naruto quelled the girls' protests and said "Just watch! You'll be able to see it healing!"

That got their attention, and they all gazed at the wound. To their surprise, Naruto was right; they could actually see the flesh knitting back together, small amounts of steam rising from the wound.

Yang could barely believe her eyes. "That's insane..."

Blake noticed something else and was shocked even more. "You're... you're not even using your Aura... How can you heal that fast without Aura?"

Naruto was amused by their reactions. "I've always healed really fast. To this day, I have never sustained an injury or even a series of injuries that took more than 24 hours for me to heal. Believe me now?"

Dumbfounded, they all nodded as the cut healed over. Ruby looked at him with awe. "You can seriously heal from anything in a day?"

He nodded. "And I don't get scars from my injuries either. Well, except in very... _extreme_ circumstances."

The three girls wondered what he meant by that, but the far-off, sad expression on his face made them refrain from asking.

They all sat down in a circle, and Naruto said "Alright, back to business. Now that we've done a round of fights, let's try and think of as many ways to combine our attacks and styles as possible. I'll start with the obvious one: Yang could shoot her Dust rounds toward an enemy, and I could hit them with Wind techniques to make them do more damage. Any other ideas?"

Yang bounced up and down, excited about her idea. "I've got one! I could flare my Semblance, then you could use your Wind thingy on me, and it would make a really big explosion!" She looked very proud of her idea, while the rest of the team looked skeptical. Blake commented "That seems like a really reckless idea. You're more likely to get hurt than any enemies."

Yang began to pout, while Ruby looked thoughtful. "Maybe if Blake got an enemy caught up in her ribbon like she did with me, and I hooked Crescent Rose around them, we could pull in opposite directions and slice them in half."

Blake also took on a thoughtful expression. "For enemies with tougher exteriors, like the Nevermore, that could definitely help to slice through their protections. There would be a limit to the size of the Grimm we could trap like that, but I like the idea..."

Yang started fidgeting again. "Oh! How about this! Naruto could use his explody ball thing to knock a Grimm into Ruby's scythe, and then she decapitates it!"

Ruby nodded and said "That sounds fun."

Blake shrugged and commented "It would be effective, but any of us could knock a Grimm to Ruby."

Naruto nodded to Blake. "True, but I've noticed that Crescent Rose can't always cut through a Grimm's armor in one strike. If I hit the armor with a Rasengan, it will crack like the Deathstalker's did, and give her a much better chance of a one-hit kill."

Blake nodded and said "I see your point. Your Rasengan can be the armor-piercing attack of the team. You make openings in Grimm's armor that the rest of us exploit."

Ruby looked toward Blake and said "But we don't want to exhaust him during battles. We can't rely on his Rasengan to punch holes in every Grimm we encounter."

Naruto smiled at Ruby. "Good observation, but you don't need to worry about exhausting me just from the Rasengan. I can throw those around for hours before exhausting myself." He turned to the rest of the team. "She is right though; don't count on my Rasengan to punch a hole in every enemy. I might not be at every battle. None of us are guaranteed to be at every battle."

They all nodded at his words, and Blake said "I think I've got an idea. Naruto hangs back from a Grimm, while one of us commits to an aerial attack." Ruby and Yang looked at her like she was crazy; they had all been taught that performing an aerial attack left you terribly vulnerable in most situations. Naruto looked thoughtful and waited for her to finish explaining. "When the Grimm is distracted by whoever is in the air, Naruto launches a lightning wave to stun the Grimm, creating an opening for the aerial attack to be executed."

Yang smiled mischievously at the idea of punching a hole in a stunned enemy with Ember Celica, while Ruby said "I like that idea."

Naruto looked thoughtful. "It would be a good move, but we'd need a callout for it. I wouldn't want to leave one of you vulnerable if I wasn't able to launch a lightning bolt in time."

Ruby nodded "That's a good point. Whoever goes for the attack will need to wait for Naruto to signal that he's ready."

Naruto spoke up again. "I've got one for general use. I think I've mentioned that I can do Earth manipulations as well, and if you need me to pin a Grimm for a few seconds, call it out and I can encase its feet or paws or claws or whatever in stone. It wouldn't hold for long, but it would be enough to land an attack or two."

They continued to propose and refine ideas for the remainder of the break. Though many ideas were thrown out, they had ten promising combos that involved two or three members of the team.

Noticing that the fifteen minutes were up and his wrist was more sprained than broken at this point, Naruto got up and stretched. The others got up as well, and Blake said "Are you sure your wrist is all right?"

Smiling, Naruto wiggled his fingers and rotated his wrist, showing that it was only slightly stiff rather than broken. "I'll be fine. This will be a good opportunity to practice my shirushi with an injured hand."

Blake looked curious. "That sounds like Japanese, but I don't know that word. What does it mean?"

Naruto proceeded to run through the twelve standard hand seals at a slower pace than usual, partly due to his wrist, and partly so that his teammates, who were watching closely, could make out what he was doing. "Those are shirushi, or hand seals. They mold energy into the proper form and nature for me to accomplish my techniques."

Blake and Yang nodded, and Ruby tried to imitate a few of the seals she had seen. She made a perfect Inu seal, which was the easiest, and a passable Tora seal. Her Hitsuji was a reverse image, and she completely butchered the Ushi seal. Naruto couldn't help but laugh at her antics. "Not bad for a first try."

She smiled at the praise, and then decided to go into leader mode. "Thanks. Alright Team RUBY, time to continue our spars! This time, let's do Blake and Naruto versus me and Yang, then Naruto and me versus Yang and Blake, then Blake and me versus Yang and Naruto."

Yang smirked. "Trying to delay the onslaught of Team Hot Stuff for as long as possible, I see."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he and Blake moved to the other end of the arena. This time, it was Ruby who checked to see if everyone was ready before giving the signal. "GO!"

* * *

Team RUBY had continued their sparring for over two and a half hours. It was nearing seven o'clock, and Ruby, Yang, and Blake were barely standing after an incredibly intense fight between Team Petalstorm and Team Bumblebee. The three girls were gasping for air, while Naruto was only sweating slightly and breathing heavily.

Yang was glaring at him. "How... are you... not... exhausted?" Her question was broken up by gasps for air.

Naruto smirked. "I have unusually high endurance." It was true as well. His huge Chakra reserves allowed him to continue this level of sparring for hours on end without succumbing to exhaustion like his three teammates.

Yang groaned with exasperation. "You used... one attack... during initiation... and almost passed out... and you say... you have endurance?"

Naruto glared back at her. "The two techniques I used can use up vastly different amounts of energy depending on how big you try to make them. I did not intend to continue fighting immediately after killing the Nevermore, so I put way more energy into them than I probably should have. Although I did intend to have enough energy to climb the cliffs at the end... Meh. Everyone makes mistakes."

Yang grunted and said "Yeah, whatever..."

As the girls caught their breath, Naruto began thinking about something that had been in the back of his mind ever since he saw Ruby imitating his hand seals. _'Should I teach them to use Jutsu? I'm sure they can learn; they already have lots of Aura, and if this training session is any indication, they have enough Chi as well... It would help them become much stronger Huntresses, and our team would become much more powerful... What do you think, Kurama-sensei?'_

Kurama grunted. **_"I wouldn't trust ningen with that kind of power. They are too short-sighted, and will eventually misuse it."_**

Naruto took his sensei's advice with a grain of salt. After all, Kurama hated all mortals, who he called ningen, and it was Jutsus wielded by Shinobi that had imprisoned him and his brethren. Kurama didn't exactly have an unbiased opinion. Then again, he brought up some good points. People were very short-sighted; the constant conflict between Faunus and humankind was a testament to that, and with the kind of power that higher ranked Jutsus and Kinjutsus could provide, there could be some serious consequences involved.

Naruto decided to suspend his decision for now. He would wait and perhaps consult Gin Tēru, who would be far less biased on the issue, before passing final judgment. With this world as chaotic as it was, Jutsu could bring about either great good or great evil depending on whose hands it was in. Plus, he wasn't sure if anyone from Remnant had properly developed Chakra Coils. As far as he knew, there was no circulatory system for Aura or Chi, so having large amounts of both woudn't necessarily make their Chakra Coils expand like they should.

He emerged from his thoughts as his teammates gathered around him. Ruby looked dead on her feet as she said "I think that's enough practice for today." She sat down on the ground and said "Now back to the dorm... as soon as I've rested..."

She allowed herself to fall backwards so that she was laying on the ground, Crescent Rose in its storage form at her side. She closed her eyes and groaned. Yang and Blake looked at each other before Blake said "We should wait here with her." Yang nodded, but Naruto shook his head. "You two need rest as well, and it's not good for Ruby to be laying on rocky ground like this after a workout. We should go to the dorms now."

Ruby groaned and began to complain. "I can't get up right now... I can barely even move."

Yang glared at Naruto and said "We're waiting here with her until she's ready to head back. That's final, or did you forget how we waited for you in the forest?"

Naruto shook his head again. "I haven't forgotten, and I wasn't saying that we should make her walk. I was thinking we could do this." With those words, he picked up Crescent Rose, which was heavier than he expected it to be, and stuck it to his back with Chakra. Before Ruby could protest his possession of her beloved weapon, she found herself being carried in his arms bridal-style. She was thankful that her hood had flipped up over her head when he had hefted her up, as it now covered her intense blush.

Naruto turned to face Yang and Blake, who were staring at him a bit, and said "Let's get going."

He then walked out of the arena, followed closely by his other two teammates. He heard Yang mumble something, and he made out the words "...carrying around Crescent Rose and Ruby like it's nothing... scythe weighs as much as I do..."

Meanwhile, Blake was observing the way Crescent Rose was clinging to Naruto's back with no apparent supports. "How are you doing that?"

Naruto turned his head to look at her. "Doing what?"

Blake pointed to the scythe. "Keeping Crescent Rose secured."

"Oh. The same way I was able to run up the side of the cliffs and stick to the ceiling. Except instead of making my feet cling to something, I'm making Crescent Rose cling to me."

He adjusted his grip on Ruby as she shifted and pushed her hood up so that he could see her face. He noticed that her cheeks were red, but wrote it off as a result of overexertion during training. "What you're doing won't hurt Crescent Rose, will it?" She had a concerned expression on her face.

Naruto shook his head. "I've done this before, and with much more fragile materials."

Ruby's concerns were alleviated, and she closed her eyes and subconsciously leaned her head into Naruto's shoulder, seeking his gentle warmth. Naruto felt his face redden slightly. _'She's pretty cute like this.'_

Yang noticed his blush and smiled mischievously. _'Well looks like Whiskers is enjoying carrying Ruby around like this. Do I sense a love triangle forming?'_ She still hadn't gotten Ruby to confess about who her crush was, and it didn't occur to her that it could very well be Naruto.

After a few more minutes of walking, they made it back to Team RUBY's dorm. Blake opened the door for Naruto, who smiled and thanked her. After everyone was inside and the door was shut, Naruto looked at the girl in his arms and said "Feeling up to standing up now?"

Ruby briefly considered saying no. She had in fact recovered enough energy to function a while ago, but had been enjoying being carried by Naruto too much to say anything. She decided that she had indulged herself enough, and nodded.

Naruto eased her onto her feet, and removed Crescent Rose from his back. Handing it to her, he smiled and said "And here's your sweetheart back."

Ruby was surprised that he had referred to Crescent Rose that way without mocking her for it. "Thanks."

The team then went about getting ready for bed. Ruby set Crescent Rose down on her bed and went to take a much-needed shower, while Yang simply changed into her pajamas, planning on showering in the morning. Blake read a book while she waited for Ruby to be done in the shower, and Naruto put all of his equipment away before pulling out FireStorm and cleaning it and performing maintenance on its firing system, which had been jamming slightly during the spars.

Once Ruby was out of the shower and Blake got in, Naruto left the room to go get dinner for everyone. He figured that nobody would want to leave the room again that day, and he came back with two pizzas. Thankfully, the kitchens had allowed him to leave with them without too many questions.

Upon entering the room, he barely had enough time to notice that Blake was finished with her shower before he was practically mugged by Yang, who apparently liked pizza almost as much as Ruby liked cookies.

Each of them ate half of a pizza, being famished from their training, and Naruto received a great deal of gratitude for bringing food back. He shrugged most of it off. "I was getting food anyway. It didn't take much extra effort to bring some back for you three as well."

After the pizzas were demolished, Naruto showered, and came out to see his three teammates lounging on their beds, studying, doing homework, or just reading. He sat down on his own bed and said "Alright. Now for the final stage of today's training."

This was met be groans and complaints. Yang was the most vocal. "What else is there possibly left to do? We sparred, we made up combos, we're exhausted!"

Naruto chuckled and said "Combos are useless if you don't remember them in the heat of battle. Right now we're going to list as many of the combos that we made as we can remember and write them down." He already had a pencil and notebook ready.

Ruby spoke up in agreement. "He's right. Until we can practice them more, we're probably going to forget about them unless we write them down." She hopped down from her bed to grab her own notebook, and sat down on Naruto's bed next to him so that it would be easier to talk to everyone. With that final point, they all began recalling as many of the combos that they had created as they could remember.

As they recalled combinations that they could do with other members of the team, they all noticed that Naruto had the most combos that he could execute with others. Blake decided to bring this fact into the discussion. "It seems like most of our team attacks involve Naruto and his abilities."

Ruby glanced at Naruto before saying "She's right. We do seem to be leaning on him a lot..."

Naruto shook his head. "No. You aren't leaning on me. I just happen to have the most flexible and compatible fighting style and abilities. Besides, this was just the first day of team training. I've had a lot of experience and training with a four-man squad, and my ability to work well with others in combat reflects that. You guys will catch up eventually."

Blake decided that now was the perfect time to sate her curiosity about the source of Naruto's apparently large amount of experience. "You do seem to know a great deal about combat and team tactics. Just how long have you been training for?"

Naruto knew that most Hunters and Huntresses didn't start even basic training until they were about 12 years old, and was about to lie, but he looked at the three people around him, who had risked their wellbeing during initiation to wait with him, and decided that he would be truthful. "I've trained in combat since I was six years old."

Despite knowing that it was coming, he couldn't meet their eyes as their expressions changed to shock and horror. Ruby squeaked out "Six!? What kind of person would train a six-year-old to fight!?"

Naruto looked into her eyes, and said "I come from a place that was very... militaristic in nature." His eyes moved to gaze on each of his teammates before looking down at the notebook in his hand.

Blake was unsure if she wanted to find out more, but asked anyway. "Where did you come from?"

Naruto's fist tightened around his pencil. "A village called Konohagakure no Sato. It was… not an easy place to live in…"

Blake absentmindedly translated out loud "The village hidden in the leaves?"

Naruto nodded. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed now." Ruby hopped off of his bed and watched as he laid down with his back facing them. The three girls could tell that he wasn't really trying to sleep, but they chose not to dig any deeper into his past for the moment.

As Yang and Blake put their notebooks away and got into bed themselves, Ruby was just standing still, watching Naruto. She wanted to say something, to somehow help him. It was obvious that his memories of his village were anything but pleasant. After a few more seconds, she nervously said "Naruto?"

She saw his head shift slightly, as if he was going to turn around, but decided not to, and heard him say "Yes, Ruby?"

Ruby hesitated for a moment before saying "If you ever want to... talk about anything, I just want you to know... I'd be happy to listen... Goodnight."

He didn't move or even acknowledge her statement, and after a few more seconds, she went to climb up to her bed. But as she began to lift herself up, she heard Naruto's voice saying "Thank you, Ruby."

She went to bed with a smile on her face and determination in her heart. Whatever had happened to Naruto in the past, she would make sure that he felt at home in Team RUBY.

* * *

**A/N:**

**I've been getting a lot of positive feedback for the past few chapters, so thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. Now, I am beginning to stray from RWBY canon events. Extra training, trials to get ranks, and probably a mission or two are on the way. For now, we will get to see the rest of Team RUBY find out more about Naruto's background. Of course, he won't spill his whole life story in one sitting; I like to draw these kind of things out, but at the moment, they know more about Naruto than almost anyone else in Remnant. In addition, we begin to see Ruby's affection for our blonde hero. Of course, he is oblivious, as always.**

**Remember to weigh in on the poll about the new translation method.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Ningen - Human/mortal

Taichō - An honorific that means captain or squad leader.

Jukai Kōtan - Deep forest emergence

Fūton: Daitoppa - Great Breakthrough

Fūton: Reppūshō - Gale Palm

Fūton: Suishin Tatsumaki no Jutsu - Propelling Tornado


	8. Rising Tension

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

Jutsus

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**So, funny story about this chapter. What was originally going to be Chapter 8 was finished weeks ago, and I had finished editing and proofreading it last week. Then, a few days ago, I noticed two things about the story. One: If I posted the first version of Chapter 8, there would be three chapters in a row that were predominantly fight scenes. Two: I was skipping past the tension-building step of the strain between Naruto and the rest of Team RUBY. So, starting on Thursday, after a huge exam, I began to write this version of the chapter. I am really surprised that I managed to finish it in the time I had allotted to myself with a level of quality that I would be willing to put into my story, but here it is.**

**Even though the first reason I inserted this chapter into the story was to provide a break from fight scenes, my evil brain still managed to sneak a short fight sequence into the chapter. Thankfully, it's less than 300 words, so hopefully you readers will forgive me.**

**Also, thank you to everyone who's reviewed since the last chapter came out! This story has officially hit 100 reviews! Hurray! In celebration of this milestone, chapters 9 and 10 will be posted early, on the 11****th**** and the 18****th**** respectively.**

**Until then, enjoy Chapter 8.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Rising Tension**

* * *

Naruto woke up on Wednesday feeling slightly nauseous. He rose slowly from his bed and looked around the room to see that two of his teammates were still sleeping peacefully. He didn't hear any signs of activity from Fort Rose, so he assumed that Ruby was still sleeping as well. The clock on his desk indicated that it was quarter to five in the morning. He had sneaked a peek at his teammates' schedules during the last two days, so he knew that none of them had any classes until 10 that day, meaning that they would probably be asleep a while longer.

He took a deep breath and put his head in his hands for a moment, sitting back down on his bed as he did so. The conversation he and his teammates had the night before was still weighing on his mind. Internally, he cursed himself.

_'__I might have ruined everything. Why did I have to bring up Konoha?'_

Throughout Naruto's time in Remnant, he hadn't made any close friends. He got to know people a little, but he usually kept his distance from the beginning, and sometimes would stop interacting with certain people altogether. Ever since Sasuke, he hadn't felt like trusting anyone else enough to become attached to them.

It was always when the subject of his past came up that he would grow more distant, and often he would avoid all interactions with a person if they began to ask questions that pertained to Naruto's time in the Elemental Nations.

_'__Now they know more about me than anyone else I've known in Remnant…'_

Naruto couldn't help but smirk. His team knew the name of his home village, that he had been trained as a ninja since he was six, and that his first language was Japanese, and they knew more about him than everyone else on Remnant. That definitely indicated something about his social life. The smirk didn't last long, and his expression turned serious as he thought about what he should do next.

_'__They know just enough to be curious, but not enough to accept me brushing their questions off. They're smart, and Blake in particular is too perceptive for comfort. They'll figure it out if I try to dodge their questions, and that will just make them more determined. Tricking them won't work either. If I'm lucky, I could fool Ruby, but…'_

That thought reminded him of what Ruby had said to him last night.

_"__If you ever want to... talk about anything, I just want you to know... I'd be happy to listen..."_

After a moment, he pushed the memory to the back of his mind.

_'__I wish it was a simple as just talking to them… but I can't just trust them with information about me. Anyone in this world could be a threat. Anyone could betray me.'_

Naruto got up off of his bed again, and changed into black sweatpants and an orange t-shirt. He secured his equipment pouch on his thigh, but decided to leave his swords in the room for the day. As he went through the equipment in his thigh pouch and made sure he had enough of everything he needed, he missed the rustling sounds coming from Fort Rose.

As Naruto opened the door to the hallway, he didn't see the pair of silver eyes that peeked out of the curtains of Fort Rose and watched him leave the room. After Naruto shut the door behind him, Ruby sighed and looked at the door with a sad expression.

"Naruto…" she whispered.

* * *

After wandering around Beacon's campus for over an hour, and having some breakfast, Naruto stumbled across one of the training grounds that were available to the students at Beacon.

It was a fairly large training ground, having an open central area, a wall painted with several targets, and a section that was blocked off by safety glass for spectators to watch and for any extra equipment to be stored. Since it was only 7:30, and Naruto's first class was with his teammates at 10, he decided to get do some training. At the very least, he reasoned, it would help him clear his head and forget about the tension between him and the rest of his team.

He decided to do a toned-down version of his usual training routine, as he wanted to have some energy to spare while going through his classes for the day. He began my making a familiar cross-shaped hand seal.

"Kinjutsu: Tajū Kage Bunshin!" _(Forbidden Art: Mass Shadow Replication)_

Fifteen clones blurred into existence around him. He had long since improved his control over the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to the point where he could produce his shadow clones without the massive burst of smoke and noise, despite the clones' inability to dispel without bursting into clouds of smoke.

Five of the clones ran off to secure the perimeter. They would use stealth and Kitsune Illusions if necessary to remain undetected, and would warn Naruto by dispelling if anyone was approaching the training ground. The way things were currently, Naruto wasn't sure that he could handle even more of his skills becoming public knowledge. His teammates already knew too much as it was, and making them even more curious would only exacerbate the problem.

Naruto and the ten remaining clones then proceeded to draw one kunai each. All ten of the clones focused their attention on Naruto, and after a moment, all attacked simultaneously. Naruto drew an extra kunai as his clones approached, and rolled forward to avoid two clones rushing at him from either side. As he rolled upright, he blocked a stab on each side of him, and deflected a third kunai that was thrown at him. Hearing a footstep behind him, Naruto spun around, throwing the kunai in his left hand at a clone that was approaching. Upon completing his turn, he grabbed the arm of a clone that had been trying to attack him from behind, readying his kunai to retaliate.

However, before he could dispel the clone, he was forced to block another attack from his right and back up to avoid being completely surrounded by his clones. He threw the kunai in his right hand as he retreated, and it nicked the arm of one of his clones, bringing the number of opponents he had left to nine.

As Naruto stared his clones down, his mind was clear. All thoughts of his teammates and the problems he was having were long gone, erased by the thrill of combat. His entire focus was on the moment. His only thoughts were of his training.

A smile slowly spread across Naruto's face as his clones rushed him again, and he readied the kunai in his hand.

* * *

"We can't just sit here and do nothing about it!" Yang said, throwing her arms into the air in exasperation.

After Naruto had left, and Blake and Yang had woken up, Ruby had called another team meeting. At least, a partial team meeting.

The three girls of Team RUBY had discussed Naruto's behavior the previous night, as well as his early-morning departure. All of them agreed that something was going on with Naruto, and that it was affecting him negatively. So, they had made plans to catch him after their first class and talk to him to make sure that he was alright. At the very least, they wanted to convey to him beyond any doubt that the three of them were there for him if he needed it.

Unfortunately for them and their plan, Naruto had shown up to class barely seconds before the professor had started the lecture. He had sat too far from the rest of his team for them to talk to him or contact him in any way that would remain inconspicuous. As soon as class ended, Naruto rushed out of the door and had disappeared into the crowd before they could tell him to wait up for them.

All similar attempts to start a discussion with him, or even to remain in the same room as him, failed spectacularly. When they could even find him, he would vanish without a trace before any of them could even get close to him. It was frustrating for Ruby and Blake, and infuriating for Yang, who was not known for having great patience.

This led them to gather back in the dorm room and try to formulate a new plan. It was quarter to four in the afternoon, and all of their classes were over for the day. The discussion had eventually turned into a debate about the best way to handle the situation. Blake suggested that they wait and let Naruto come to them, Yang wanted to corner him and knock some sense into him, and Ruby was uncertain about what they should do.

Blake crossed her arms and said "Running after him and forcing him into a corner is not going to get the results we want. If anything, he'll just avoid us even more. If we give him some space, then eventually he will talk to us. He has to. We all live in the same room after all."

Yang snorted. "He's not going to come to us and start talking about his _feelings_, Blake. He's a guy; a stubborn, macho, overconfident _guy_. He can probably just keep avoiding us forever if he wants to."

"_Exactly_," Blake retorted. "Naruto has managed to avoid all three of us for the entire day, and we even had a class together. He saw us, and completely disappeared. Chasing after him won't help if he can just evade us. All it will do is make him less likely to want to confide in us."

Ruby sighed as her sister and Blake argued back and forth about the issue. Seeing Naruto avoid her with such determination all day had made her feel worse and worse each time she tried to get close enough to talk to him. She just wished that things could go back to the way they had been during the practice session. While they had been sparring together, it had felt like the four of them were so close…

That thought gave Ruby an idea, and she jumped up from the chair she had been sitting in. "Yang! Blake! I know what we can do!"

Her two teammates looked at her with curious expressions, and she began to explain. "Blake is right that trying to run him down won't work." Blake smirked triumphantly at those words. "But sitting back and waiting around is out of the question." Now it was Yang's turn to look smug.

"So, the solution is to make him come to us," Ruby said with a smile. "All we need to do is schedule another team practice session! Naruto is really committed to the team, and he keeps saying that it's up to me to make decisions, and up to him to follow those decisions. If I say that there's going to be another team practice today, he'll show up for sure!"

Yang and Blake both smiled at this. "Good idea, little sis," Yang commented.

Blake nodded in agreement. "He's unlikely to feel like we're trying to corner him if we have a legitimate reason to be around him. He did show up to our shared class after all. Plus, maybe some good bouts will make him more willing to talk to us."

Ruby pulled out her Scroll. "Alright! It's settled then. I'll send out a message to the entire team saying that we're having another practice session at 5:00 at the same training area as last time. Once we're there, we won't try to have our talk with him until after we do a few fights, alright?"

After her teammates agreed, Ruby began to type out a message on her Scroll.

"Attention, Team RUBY! Since we only have a few days before our ranks are decided, I'm calling another team practice session for today. Meet at the same training ground that we used yesterday at 5:00, and don't be late!

-Ruby Rose: Team Leader and best Huntress ever"

She sent the message out to the whole team, and Yang and Blake opened up their own Scrolls just to get them to stop sending a message alert. Yang decided to read the message just for the hell of it, and chuckled at Ruby's signoff. "Was the last bit really necessary?" she asked her sister.

Ruby crossed her arms and said "Yes!" Yang looked at her with amusement, and Ruby shifted under Yang's scrutiny. "Well… not really… But it's still true!"

* * *

Naruto was sitting in a tree, devoting more time and thought towards the situation with his teammates, when his Scroll played the ringtone that signified a new message. He pulled the device out of his pocket, and opened the message. After he read it, he slumped and sighed in frustration. There was no proof that Ruby was doing this just to force him to interact with the rest of his team, and it might have even been a little conceited to think that was a possibility, but at that moment, it sure felt like it to Naruto.

Despite the apparent ease with which he had done it, avoiding the rest of Team RUBY wasn't effortless. He had even been forced to use a Kitsune Illusion once in order to avoid detection by his overzealous teammates. As good as their intentions might have been, what Naruto needed, in his opinion, was some time alone.

The blonde Huntsman ran a hand through his hair as he thought about how to deal with this new development. He couldn't just skip the practice session. The message was now registered as having been opened, preventing him from feigning ignorance, and ignoring an order from his team leader could get him reported for insubordination. Besides, he just didn't have the heart to defy Ruby, especially when she was being a good leader.

Naruto's only option would be to put on a mask, and it wouldn't be the physical kind. He had plenty of experience with hiding his true self behind a mask in the past. In Konoha, he had played the part of the happy fool, while, in reality, he was anything but. He may not have been the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but he wasn't quite as stupid as his test scores had indicated. And he had rarely been happy in his day-to-day life in Konoha. He had faked it to hide the pain and loneliness that the hatred of the villagers had made him feel.

This time, Naruto doubted that the Happy Idiot persona would work. His teammates knew that he was intelligent, and they also knew that there was something troubling him. Wearing that mask would be broadcasting to them that he was trying to hide something from them.

This was an issue, since that was the only false persona that Naruto had ever projected. He couldn't think of anything else to try. For a moment, he considered asking Kurama for advice, but then dismissed the idea, considering the fact that the old Kitsune would probably just scoff at him and say that he should just make any human he encountered submit to his will rather than trying to avoid their questions.

While imagining his sensei's reaction, an idea struck Naruto. It wasn't something he had ever considered trying before, and he would probably have to tone it down some for it to have the desired effect, but it just might work.

As Naruto leapt out of the tree and began walking to retrieve his swords and proper attire, he asked himself one question to begin making his mask.

_'__What would sensei do?'_

* * *

It was 4:58, and there was no sign of Naruto at the training ground. Ruby, Yang, and Blake were waiting and watching for him, but Ruby was becoming depressed, feeling like her plan had failed. "I thought for sure that he would come…" Ruby said.

Blake checked the time again and watched as it went from 4:58 to 4:59. "He could still show up," Blake said.

"With less than a minute left, not likely," Yang commented. "He could just be running late I suppose…"

Ruby sighed. "He's been done with classes for hours. If he doesn't show up on time, it's on purpose. And that's if he comes at all."

Yang sat down on the ground and rested her chin on her fist. "Well then, now what do we do?"

"If he doesn't come, Ruby could technically report him for insubordination," Blake said "He would be called in for a meeting with Ruby and a professor, and would have to talk to her."

Ruby shook her head. "I don't want to do that to him. If it gets to be a major problem maybe, but I don't want him to get in trouble over something so small. Besides, if trying to corner him would make him upset with us, I can't imagine how he would feel about being reported for insubordination."

Blake was about to reply, but there was a sudden noise behind the three girls, and they all spun around to a sight that made them gasp.

It was Naruto, but there was something decidedly different about him.

Firstly, he wasn't in casual clothes like the last time they had practiced. He had put on his battle cloak and mask, and he was wearing the flame-painted armguards and shin guards that he had worn in the forest. He was pulling on his armor-plated gloves as he walked toward his team.

The biggest thing that made him seem different was the way he carried himself. During the first practice session, he had been relaxed the entire time, even when he had broken his wrist. Now, however, he walked as if he was prepared to fight to the death. This wasn't Naruto, their teammate. This was Naruto, the Huntsman; the deadly warrior who could call upon Nature's Wrath on his own power like an angry deity. He was distant, unapproachable, and just a little bit frightening.

Naruto finished pulling on his gloves and stopped in front of his three teammates. As if on cue, Ruby's Scroll beeped, the alarm she had set for 5:00 going off, showing that Naruto was perfectly on time.

They all stood there silently for a few seconds before Naruto said to Ruby "What are you orders?"

Ruby blinked and shook herself out of her shock. "Huh?"

"Your orders. What are they?" Naruto said. Ruby nearly shivered at how cold his words were. The warm, caring teammate she was used to was gone. Now he reminded her of how he was when he was berating her in the forest during initiation.

"Um, I was thinking that since we could start out doing what we did last time, and then see where things go from there," Ruby said nervously.

Naruto simply nodded and said "Very well."

All four of them remained silent for a few seconds until Ruby decided that the best course of action was to start the bout. "Right. Well, let's start with Team Petalstorm versus Team Bumblebee."

The rest of her team nodded, and the two pairs moved to opposite ends of the arena. Naruto remained completely silent as he walked. Ruby couldn't even hear his footsteps, and it was a little unnerving. As Ruby called out for the spar to start, she began to question whether this had been a good idea after all.

* * *

Ruby flopped down onto Blake's bed, not having the energy to climb up to Fort Rose at the moment. Blake looked like she was about to protest, but then shrugged and flopped down next to her team leader. Yang quickly followed suit, saying "Well that was a massive waste of time."

Blake and Ruby wanted to argue the point, but they couldn't really dispute it. "We did get some practice in," Blake said. "That's something."

"I guess," Yang admitted. "We didn't do what we wanted to though."

Throughout every spar, Naruto had hardly said anything. He had responded only to direct orders from Ruby and questions that directly related to what they were doing at the time. When they tried to coax him into talking to them, he had simply stared at them and declined to answer until they backed down. All three of them had felt nervousness and a subtle fear whenever he had stared at them like that, and they couldn't explain why.

Naruto also made them pay for their inquiries out on the battlefield. He began using less wind attacks as he had been doing in the previous spars, and began using more lightning and fire attacks. He didn't seem to care if whoever his partner was at the time was subject to collateral damage either. At one point, it had nearly turned into a three-on-one fight, when Yang had lost her temper and turned on Naruto while she was his partner.

Thankfully, Ruby had stepped in and stopped the spar before things went too far, but it still didn't make them feel any better about their progress with the issue. As soon as Ruby had announced that the official team practice was over, Naruto had disappeared. He literally vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves, leaving his teammates gaping at the spot where he had been standing.

Blake sighed. "I can't really argue with that. We did find out that he can just disappear into thin air though, which will save us some effort trying to chase him down. How did he even do that?"

"Um…" Ruby said. "I think he might be able to be invisible?"

Blake and Yang both turned to stare at Ruby incredulously. "Seriously!?" Yang said. "And you didn't think to mention this while we were off on a wild goose chase?"

Ruby looked at her sister sheepishly. "Sorry… I kinda forgot about it until he disappeared today."

"What makes you think he can become invisible anyway?" Blake asked.

"Well, remember how I fought against Roman Torchwick and his thugs that one time?" Blake nodded, having been told about the time Naruto had saved Ruby's life. "Afterwards, Professor Goodwitch took me down to the police station, and basically scolded me for getting involved in something that was a problem for the officials. She left to try to track down Naruto, and Professor Ozpin came in. He asked me where I learned to use Crescent Rose, and showed me some of the surveillance footage from the battle."

Ruby got up from Blake's bed and picked up her Scroll. "While the footage was playing, I saw something weird happen, and asked Ozpin to go back a few seconds in the video. I had been wondering where that knife came from, you see, and I was watching to see who had thrown it. In the video, Naruto just appeared out of nowhere for a second, threw the knife, and disappeared again. Then, later, he appeared out of nowhere a second time. I figured that he must be able to become invisible in order to do that." She opened her Scroll and began to look through her files, just to give her something to do.

Yang also got up from Blake's bed, making her very happy as she stretched out and took advantage of all of the space she now had. "So we've been chasing a guy who can become invisible?" Ruby nodded, and Yang groaned in exasperation. "Screw my life."

The three girls got ready for bed, having already eaten dinner. As Ruby climbed up into Fort Rose, she looked down at Naruto's bed, and then at the door, and sighed. It was past 10:00, and Naruto still hadn't come back to the dorm room. She was beginning to get worried about him, and decided to stay awake until he returned.

As she lay in her bed, looking out of a gap in the curtains, she was unaware that she would be waiting for nothing. It was nearly three hours before she succumbed to the call of slumber, and Naruto had still not returned.

* * *

After practice, Naruto had returned to the tree that he had been sitting in earlier that day. It was in a fairly out-of-the-way place, so nobody had passed by it in several hours. Naruto sighed as he thought over his strategy for avoiding questions during practice.

Between his full Battle Outfit and the small amounts of KI he had saturated the area with, he had managed to create an excellent air of intimidation. Acting like a haughty Demon Lord wasn't too difficult, since he had one living in him to copy off of. The end result had kept his team nervous and reluctant enough that he was able to avoid answering any questions he didn't want to.

His use of the Shunshin no Jutsu (_Body Flicker Jutsu_) after practice was over was probably ill-advised, but he was simply too anxious to leave to be able to just walk out of the training ground. The Shunshin no Jutsu allowed him to move even faster than Ruby could, but he had to focus on his destination for several seconds, and the Chakra Control required to perform the technique was almost beyond his abilities. There was no way he was ever going to be able to use that Jutsu in active combat, except perhaps as an escape tactic.

Despite the resounding success of his tactics, he couldn't help but feel sad. He didn't _want_ his team to be afraid of him, or to be distant from them. The alternative of them finding out what he was and where he came from was just something that was worse in his mind.

Naruto needed to think things through before he did anything more about the situation. He wasn't sure what the best option for him was. There was a small part of him that wanted to confide in his teammates. That part of him was desperate to have someone precious to him again, but another part of him remembered his last betrayal too freshly, and wouldn't let him put himself at risk for that again.

As Naruto watched the broken moon rise, he slowly drifted off to sleep, his mind still in turmoil, wondering what he could do to make his situation turn out for the best.

* * *

**A/N:**

**By the way, the poll is now closed, and a massive majority of you have decided that you like the on-the-spot translations. Ironically, there is almost no Japanese in this chapter, but I will be editing the previous chapters that contain Japanese terms so that there are on-the-spot translations. From now on, there will be both on-the-spot translations ****_and_**** the glossary of terms used in the chapter after the closing Author's Note. Once again, if you have any issues with the way I translated something, feel free to tell me, since it was probably Google Translate's fault.**

**I'll see you all again next week. Happy 100****th**** review day!**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Kinjutsu: Tajū Kage Bunshin - Forbidden Art: Mass Shadow Replication

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Art of the Shadow Doppelganger

Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique


	9. Reality Check

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

Jutsus

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Firstly, I would like to apologize for the late upload. Although it's technically still the 11th according to the website, I know that to many readers, this chapter has been posted on the 12th.**

**Secondly, I want to express my great happiness at the fact that this story has continued to get more and more reviews per chapter with every chapter I post. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story and given their valuable input. Without you, this story probably would have been drastically different.**

**For now, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Reality Check**

* * *

On Thursday, when the girls of Team RUBY woke up at 7 to get ready for class, they quickly noticed that Naruto was missing. His bed was completely undisturbed, and it looked like it hadn't been slept in the previous night. When Ruby told Blake and Yang about how she had tried to stay awake to talk to Naruto when he came back, they all came to the same conclusion.

Naruto hadn't returned to the dorm room at all between the time the team training had ended and the time that the three girls had woken up.

After some discussion, the three of them agreed that their attempts to simply "be there" for Naruto were definitely not working, and had probably led to him spending the night outside of the dorm room.

"Well," Ruby said, "I guess he's too worked up right now to even want to talk to us… or spend time in the same room as us. Hopefully he'll chill out and come and talk to us on his own soon."

Blake nodded, but Yang huffed and said "I still think we should just knock some sense into him." She made a few punching motions.

"If you can catch him to do that, go right ahead," Blake said dryly.

Yang opened her mouth to respond, but then thought better of it and just grunted in acknowledgement of Blake's statement.

A few minutes later, Blake, Ruby, and Yang were on their way to the cafeteria to have breakfast. On the way there, they ran into Team JNPR, who were also on their way to have breakfast, and the seven students ended up going as a group.

"So, how's the team doing, Jaune?" Ruby asked.

Jaune shrugged. "Pretty well. With classes starting, we've mostly been getting used to things here. How about your team?"

Ruby hesitated for a moment. "We're doing alright… We've had a few training sessions together to improve our teamwork, and those went well… mostly."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong? I noticed that Naruto's not with you guys. Is he hurt or something?"

Ruby shook her head. "No- it's nothing like that. It's just… Naruto's been a bit distant recently. He didn't even come back to the dorm room to sleep last night."

"Wow. Where is he then?"

"We don't know," Ruby admitted after a moment. "We haven't really been able to talk to him since Tuesday. The last time we saw him was when training ended."

"What time was that?" Jaune asked.

Ruby shrugged. "About 6:30. We didn't train for nearly as long as last time."

"Ooh! I've seen him since then!"

Both Jaune and Ruby jumped a bit as Nora sprung up between them. Ruby's shock quickly wore off as she focused her attention on the hyperactive girl. "Really? Where did you see him?"

Nora smiled and said "It was about 8 last night I think. I was coming back from the edge of the Emerald Forest, and he was headed in the opposite direction."

Ruby's eyes widened. "He was headed toward the Emerald Forest?"

"Probably," Nora said with a nod. "I don't think there's much else in that area."

"Nora," Ren suddenly said. "Why exactly were you at the edge of the Emerald Forest in the first place?"

Nora looked at Ren like the answer should be obvious. "We still don't know what a sloth sounds like, Ren. I was trying to find one and listen to it."

Ren and Jaune facepalmed, while Team RUBY looked at Nora incredulously. Pyrrha, however, looked thoughtful. "You don't think he actually went _into_ the forest, do you?"

This made the three present members of Team RUBY look fix their gazes on Pyrrha. "I hope not," Blake said. "Why would he?"

"Well, apparently, it's a… _tradition_ that students spend an entire night in the Emerald Forest before they graduate," Pyrrha said. "Usually, students will do this as a team, and almost always wait until their third year at least, since they can handle themselves by then." She paused for a moment. "But… I might not be surprised if Naruto felt confident enough to try it right away."

A nervousness began to creep up on Ruby as she imagined Naruto going into the forest alone. "Where did you hear about that?" Ruby asked.

Pyrrha shrugged. "It's actually a pretty common practice at higher academies like Beacon- at least, ones that have a Grimm-infested forest at hand. Some places discourage it, some don't. From what I've heard from some of the older students, Beacon's official stance on it is that it's against the rules, but the unofficial rule is that if you don't get caught and nobody gets badly hurt, they'll turn a blind eye."

There was silence for a moment, before Yang spoke up. "I wouldn't put it past Whiskers to do something stupid like that. He's a real knucklehead sometimes. Especially over the last few days." It was easy to see that Yang and her two teammates were concerned for Naruto now that there was a possibility that he had ventured into the forest.

Team JNPR wasn't sure how to respond to Yang's words, and Jaune decided to try and reassure Team RUBY. "Even if he did go into the forest, it's not like anything in there could hurt him, right?"

Ruby shook her head. "It's unlikely, but... there are some Grimm that no one can handle alone. Especially if a horde forms…"

There was silence after that, until Nora went up to an older student and asked if he knew what a sloth sounded like. Normally, Team RUBY would have found this very amusing, but at the moment, it didn't seem to cheer them up at all.

* * *

After a quiet breakfast, Team JNPR went directly to class, and the girls of Team RUBY returned to their dorm room to get everything they needed for class.

When Ruby got into the room, she sat on the chair in front of her desk and leaned back on it with a sigh. Yang noticed that she looked worried, and it wasn't hard to guess what it was she was worried about. "Nervous about Whiskers?" Yang asked her.

"A little," Ruby admitted. "I just want to know that he's safe… During Initiation, he still needed our help to take down the Nevermore. If he comes across another one, I'm not sure if he can handle something like that on his own."

Yang chewed on her lip for a moment, thinking. "Look, we're not even sure he went into the forest at all," Yang said. "If you're so worried about him, just call him. Even if he just answers and hangs up on you or something, you'll know that he's alright."

Ruby smiled at Yang and grabbed her Scroll. "Good idea!"

Blake and Yang waited as Ruby put the scroll up to her ear. Ruby listened at her Scroll rang once… twice… three times…

Ruby heard a total of seven rings before the call stopped and a computerized voice said that her call was being directed to a voicemail box. She lowered the Scroll, hit the "end call" button, and turned to her teammates. "He didn't answer. It went to voicemail."

"Well, leave him a message then," Yang said.

Ruby smiled sheepishly. "Oh, right. Sorry." Yang rolled her eyes at her sister's lack of social sense.

Ruby quickly called Naruto's Scroll again, this time waiting until she heard the customary beep before saying "Hey, Naruto, it's Ruby. You didn't come back to the dorm room last night- well, you knew that already, since it was you who didn't come back in the first place, so I guess there's no point in telling you that- but anyway, we couldn't find you anywhere and nobody has seen you or knows where you are, which is really weird, and we- oh, by the way, by 'we' I mean me, Yang, and Blake, 'cause they're here too, and they helped look for you and stuff- so, we heard that some students like to wander out into the Emerald Forest sometimes to blow off steam and it seemed like something you might do when you were angry, and you seemed like you were a little angry yesterday, since you were zapping all of us way more than before, and someone mentioned that you were heading toward the Emerald Forest last night, and since we haven't seen you since practice, we were kind of getting worried about you, so I called to make sure you were okay and not hurt or anything, so please call me back or at least message me or something. Thanks, bye."

Yang and Blake had to take a moment to marvel at the speed at which Ruby had said all of that. "There," Yang said once she had processed what her sister had said. "Now he'll just call you back once he gets the chance."

Ruby nodded, and the anxiety she had been feeling soon faded away. The likelihood of Naruto actually going into the Emerald Forest and staying there for the entire night was relatively small. Leaving the message gave her the feeling that she was actively doing something about the situation, so she was able to focus on getting ready for class.

* * *

Blake, Yang, and Ruby had been sitting in the classroom for a while, and class was only a few minutes away from starting. However, despite his habit of usually arriving early to class, Naruto had not yet entered the room.

As his three teammates sat there, watching the time tick closer and closer to the time that class would start, all three of them felt their anxiety for their teammate rise slowly. Naruto would never skip class. He was too dedicated to break the rules like that.

The door to the room opened, and the three attending members of Team RUBY turned to see if their final teammate had decided to show up. Unfortunately for them, it was some student that they had never seen before. They turned back to the front of the room as the student sat near the back of the room off to their left.

When class started, and Naruto had still not arrived, Ruby felt slightly nauseous. No matter what the reason, if Naruto was missing class, something was wrong.

Yang and Blake were also worried, but they were able to put their nervousness on behalf of their teammate on hold while they were in class. Ruby, on the other hand, was not good at focusing for long periods of time to begin with. For the first ten minutes, she was able to pay at least a little attention to what the professor was saying, but that soon became impossible.

Ruby began to subtly check her Scroll to see if Naruto had made any sort of response at all, whether it be a message or a call that she had somehow missed. There continued to be no response.

Soon, Ruby had the idea to send him a text message, thinking that maybe he would respond to that. She quickly and discreetly typed the message into her Scroll.

"Naruto, please check the voicemail I left you. It's important."

That was all that she felt safe typing while in class. She didn't want to get caught by the professor after all.

She didn't notice the student that she hadn't recognized pulling out his Scroll and glancing at its screen, nor did she notice him glance in her direction before sighing in exasperation and putting his Scroll back away.

* * *

When Naruto had woken up that morning, he was still in the tree he had fallen asleep in, which was a good thing, since the alternative was him falling out of the tree. That would have resulted in him being very irritated.

After stretching and hopping down from his tree, Naruto decided to run to the edge of the Emerald Forest and back to loosen up his muscles. It was a fairly short run, as the tree Naruto had chosen to sleep in was close to the deadly woods, though still on Beacon grounds.

About halfway to the edge of the forest, he heard his Scroll ringing. Not wanting to interrupt his run, he decided to ignore it until later.

When he returned to his starting point, he pulled out his Scroll to see who had called him. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh when he saw that it was Ruby who had called him. Apparently his Demon Lord persona was effective only for in-person interactions.

Naruto paused for a moment to think about whether or not he should check his voicemail box.

During his contemplations both while sitting in the tree and while running, Naruto had come to realize that it was very unlikely that any of his teammates would betray him in the manner that he had experienced in the Elemental Nations. However, they were almost certain to react negatively to the fact that he was from another world, and the fact that he was a Hanyou.

Their job was to fight and kill demons. Being half demon wasn't going to earn him any goodwill.

After a few seconds, Naruto decided to leave his voicemail box unopened for the moment. He didn't want to have to deal with his teammates until he had taken enough time to think through what he was going to do and how he was going to proceed.

Checking the time on his Scroll, Naruto remembered that he had class in less than an hour, and groaned in frustration. It was one of the classes that he had with the rest of his team, and he wasn't sure he was up for another appearance of his Demon Lord mask.

Then, Naruto had an idea that caused the ghost of a smile to grace his face.

He'd already used the Shunshin no Jutsu _(Body Flicker Jutsu)_ to avoid his teammates, why not add the Kagehenge _(Shadow Transformation) _to that list?

* * *

When Naruto walked into the classroom that already held his three teammates, he did not look like himself. He had Henged to give himself short, black hair and brown eyes. He was also a few inches shorter than his actual body was.

He sat down near the back, and on the left side of the classroom, out of the direct line of sight of his teammates, and began to take notes as soon as the professor began the lecture. As focused as he was on his notes, Naruto was surprised when his Scroll went off quietly, signaling that someone had sent him a message.

Half to silence the Scroll, and half to see who would be sending him a message in the first place, Naruto discreetly opened the Scroll and then the message. After reading it, and seeing that it was from Ruby, he sighed. Apparently Ruby wanted to make contact with him enough to become distracted from class.

Naruto turned off his Scroll, deciding to ignore the situation at least until class was finished.

* * *

Throughout the course of class, Ruby had ended up sending Naruto a total of five messages, each one sounding more worried than the last. When the class was finally dismissed, Ruby, Yang, and Blake reconvened just outside of the classroom, where Ruby was trying her hardest to not completely freak out from how worried she was. With each message she had sent only to have no reply, she became more and more certain that Naruto had indeed gone out into the forest, and was now not in any condition to reply to her messages.

Naruto himself had headed straight for the library as soon as class had ended, and therefore had missed the state that Ruby was in. With his Scroll still off, he hadn't realized that she had messaged him several more times.

"Calm down, Ruby," Yang said. "What makes you so sure that Naruto's in trouble?"

Ruby took a deep breath, doing her best to be levelheaded in this situation, and replied "I left him a voicemail. I sent him five messages. He's not replying. Something's _wrong_, Yang!"

Yang didn't have anything to argue against that, and she and Blake became worried as well.

"Okay," Blake said. "Naruto might be in trouble. What's our plan?"

"We go looking for him," Ruby said. "Let's go get our stuff and get out there to find him."

She took off for the dorm room, where all of their stuff currently was, before Yang and Blake could reply. In her anxiety, Ruby even used her Semblance, leaving her two teammates in the dust.

Yang and Blake hurried after her as quickly as they could, both to start looking for Naruto faster, and to make sure that Ruby didn't go off looking on her own in her panic.

* * *

Naruto reached the library, which was near the dorms, within a few minutes. He quickly located the books he needed, and checked them out. As he left with the two books under his arm, he remembered how he had turned his Scroll off, and pulled it out with his free hand to turn it back on. Once it was fully functional again, he noticed the several messages that Ruby had sent him, along with another message from Blake, and two from Yang.

He was surprised at their insistence, especially so soon after the intimidating training session, and began to open up the messages to read what they said as he began walking back to the dorm.

"Naruto, could you please message me back and at least let me know that you're not out in the Emerald Forest trying to kill Grimm?"

"Hey, even if you're in the Emerald Forest, a message to let me know you're okay would be nice."

"Seriously, Nora said she saw you headed toward the Emerald Forest last night, and if you're trying to go through that dumb tradition, I don't care. I'm completely fine with it. Just let me know so I can stop worrying."

"Please, Naruto, I just want to know that you're alright. Call me, message me, whatever. As long as you tell me you're alright."

Those four were from Ruby, and Naruto raised an eyebrow when she mentioned the "tradition." He would have to look into this tradition later.

"Naruto, as your teammates, we would like a report on your current condition. If we can't make contact with you, Ruby's going to tear through the Emerald Forest looking for you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Blake's message. What was all this about him being lost in the Emerald Forest?

"Whiskers, you better message us back, or I'm kicking your ass when I find you."

"If this is some kind of sick joke, I will kick you in the balls!"

They were overreacting in Naruto's opinion, and he decided that he would take his books back to the dorm room before messaging them back, since he didn't feel like trying to type coherently with one hand.

* * *

By the time Yang and Blake had reached the dorm room, Ruby was nearly twitching in agitation and impatience, and there were more than a few rose petals scattered across the room. She was already prepared to go after Naruto, and the second she saw her teammates, she ran up to them. "I'm going to go on ahead. You to follow once you're ready."

"Hold on, Ruby," Yang said. "We can't just go charging into this without any planning."

Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but Blake cut her off. "She's right. First, let Yang and I send him messages as well. As much as I hate to say it, he may just be ignoring you." This suggestion definitely didn't make Ruby feel any better. "Second, if we're going to have a search party out after him, we should have an _official_ one. Contact the Headmaster, have multiple teams, do a proper search pattern. If you end up getting lost in the forest, that won't do anyone any good."

As much as she didn't want to, Ruby couldn't deny that Blake was right. "Alright. Message him. If he doesn't reply, I'll go to Ozpin."

Blake and Yang quickly typed out and sent their messages. A few minutes later, Yang sent a second message, and Blake and Ruby looked at her curiously. "I threatened to kick him in the nuts if this was all some stupid joke," she explained.

Ruby didn't react to this at all, while Blake nodded in approval. Whether it was approval of the threatening message or approval in the idea itself, Yang was unsure.

Ten minutes passed with no replies whatsoever, and Ruby decided that enough was enough. "That's it. I'm going to get Ozpin, then I'm going in there myself to look for him. Where is Ozpin's office any-"

Her words were cut off as the door to the dorm room door opened. The three girls fell silent and froze as the person who opened the door stepped through.

It was Naruto. He still had his battle clothes and equipment on, and there were a few leaves in his hair. One of them fell and glided down to the floor of the dorm room as the blonde ninja stepped into the dorm room and shut the door behind him.

He looked at his teammates, and for a moment, all of them stood still. Then Yang's hands curled up into fists, and her eyes turned red.

Naruto shifted slightly and set his books down on the bookshelves next to the door. _'Well, this is going to be interesting…'_

Yang moved forward and cocked her fist backward. Naruto easily caught the punch she threw, and held onto her fist so that she couldn't try it again. He felt the air around her heat up as she said "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Nothing that I was aware of. Were you thinking of something specific, or just asking in general?"

Yang growled in anger, and Naruto felt the heat increase. "Are you just ignoring us completely now? We sent you like 20 messages!"

Naruto pushed back against Yang's fist, and tightened his grip. "I don't have to answer messages if I don't want to. And try 8, not 20."

"You're unbelievable! You had enough time to count them, but you couldn't bother to reply to let us know you were okay!?" Yang yanked her fist out of Naruto's grip, and looked like she was going to try and punch him again, before pushing past him and walking to the door. "Whatever! You're not worth the effort it would take to punch your teeth in for being such an ass!" The angry blonde left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Naruto, who had turned to watch Yang leave, turned back only to be taken completely by surprise.

Ruby walked up to him and slapped him in the face.

Naruto was shocked enough by this that he didn't even move to catch Ruby's hand. His head was jerked to the side by the force of the slap, and he turned back to Ruby to stare at her, dumbfounded.

Ruby was shaking, her hand still half extended from the slap. Her hood was still up on her head, so her eyes were obscured, and Naruto couldn't gauge her expression.

"Ruby, wha-"

He barely began to speak before Ruby pushed him out of the way and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Naruto turned back to look at Blake, a little more alert this time. Thankfully, his fellow black-clad student simply stood there, glaring at him. "Well, that was unusual."

In that moment, Blake became so angry at Naruto that she began to produce honest-to-god Killing Intent. It was very weak Killing Intent, but it was KI all the same. Naruto stiffened, not from the effects of Blake's KI, but from sheer shock that she was able to produce any at all.

"I don't care," Blake said slowly, her voice venomous, "why you've been avoiding us, or why you don't want us asking questions about your past." This had all started after they had asked about his training and he mentioned Konoha, and it hadn't taken Blake long to figure out what had started it. "How much effort would it have taken you to send us one message? One. Damn. Message! That's all it would have taken to let us know that you weren't in mortal danger!"

Naruto was now beginning to feel a little guilty. Perhaps he had dismissed their messages too casually.

"I thought we made it clear," Blake continued, "that we cared about you. That you were our teammate, and that we were willing to put ourselves in danger for you. I thought… I hoped that you would feel the same for us. I guess I was wrong, since apparently it's too much to ask for you to even write us a message to put our minds at ease!"

Blake walked past Naruto, who didn't move as she opened the door. She paused before leaving to say "And if it meant that much to you, you could have asked us to not ask questions about your past instead of treating us like lepers!"

She shut the door behind her, and Naruto winced at the sound. He stood still for a few seconds before slowly walking over to his bed and sitting down. _'They were that worried about me?'_ He thought back to the training session yesterday, when he had begun to go a little overboard with his Jutsus. _'Even after all of that, they were worried, and I've been treating them like... like how Sasuke treated me.'_

Naruto put his head in his hands as he realized what he had done.

_'Forget bringing up Konoha. Now I _really_ might have ruined everything…'_

* * *

Ruby sat next to Yang underneath a large tree. There were tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall, and Yang had an arm around her younger sister.

"After everything we've done together- Initiation, the training, him saving me… do we really mean that little to him?"

Yang sighed. "I don't know, Ruby. I just don't know…" She looked up as she heard footsteps, and saw Blake moving in their direction.

Blake walked up to the two sisters, paused for a moment, and then sat down on Yang's other side. The blond put an arm around her partner as well. Blake looked like she was going to protest for a moment before just sighing and accepting it, knowing that this was for Yang's comfort as much as it was for hers.

"I wish things could go back to how they were before…" Ruby whispered.

"Me too, Ruby…"

* * *

**A/N:**

**Writer's block hit me like a bus this last week. I'm not so sure how well this chapter went, and how well the last one went. Things didn't flow as smoothly as I would have liked, but hopefully that's all behind us now. The next few chapters were already written some time in advance, and are a bit more polished, as I have had the time to write them, forget about them for a few days, and then go back and read them from a less biased perspective. There was much less of that for this chapter and the last one, as they were kind of a spur-of-the-moment addition.**

**By the way, this is a fairly common addition to fanfiction, but just to clear things up, the Kagehenge, or Shadow Transformation Jutsu, is a technique that Naruto created that is a more powerful version of the Henge no Jutsu. Similar to the Kage Bunshin, the Kagehenge has corporeal effects. Essentially, Naruto becomes whatever or whoever he Kagehenges into. This is how he could become a Fuma Shuriken in the fight with Zabuza and be actually used at a weapon rather than a distraction.**

**So, here's to moving onward and upward. Next chapter comes out on the 18th. Until then, thanks for all of your support.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Shunshin no Jutsu - Body Flicker Technique

Kagehenge - Shadow Transformation

Henged - Pseudo-Japanese. The past tense of Henge. It could be replaced with "transformed" and have pretty much the same meaning


	10. Regret

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

Jutsus

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hey, I've got a cover photo for this story now! Massive thank you to Nacrym for letting me use her picture! Check out my profile for a link to the picture and her Deviantart profile.**

**Also, I've been having some issues with the Document Manager. Specifically, it keeps removing the underlines from some Jutsus, but not others. After analyzing this for a while, it looks like any Jutsu with a letter that has a symbol over it will have its formatting removed upon upload. I think I've fixed everything, but if I missed something, I apologize. Point any issues you see out to me in a review or PM, and I'll fix the issue as soon as I get a chance.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Regret**

Naruto decided to actually sleep in the dorm room that night, which created some tense situations. Blake and Yang said very little to him, and what they did say was only the minimum amount of necessary communication. It was obvious that Yang was still angry at him, only not enough to try to punch him this time around. Blake was harder to read, but he could tell that she was displeased at least.

Ruby hadn't spoken a word to him since she had slapped him.

He supposed that he deserved all of this. It was his own stupid fear and lack of thought or consideration that had caused this entire debacle, and it would be up to him to make things right again. The first step would be an apology, but he couldn't seem to find the right words yet.

He wondered, in the back of his mind, if he disappeared again, would his teammates even bother looking for him? Would they try to contact him in any way? He seriously doubted it at this point.

As he lay in his bed, he thought about how Ruby had been looking at him since earlier that day. The few times she had made eye contact with him, he saw a flash of sadness before her expression became unreadable and she looked away from him.

It was clear to him that it was Ruby who he had hurt the most. They were supposed to be partners, and he hadn't even considered her before acting. From the number of messages she had sent him, it was obvious that his disappearance had caused her a great deal of anxiety and worry. He opened his Scroll to read the messages again, and each one was like a punch right in his heart.

Naruto closed his Scroll and sighed. He would fix this. He swore that to himself on his Nindo. He had forgotten that very Nindo in his foolishness, and he would never allow that to happen again.

Uzumaki Naruto never went back on his words, and he always protects his precious people. He had gone too long without that Nindo in his heart, and that ended now.

* * *

The next morning was the day of the evaluations. For once, Naruto was the last one awake, and his teammates ended up going on ahead of him together while he finished getting his equipment ready. He looked at the door as it closed with no small amount of regret. Five minutes later, he pulled his mask up over his mouth, and tied his hitai-ate securely around his head, the metal plate polished to a shine so that the leaf symbol stood out.

When Naruto got to the training grounds and class began, Professor Goodwitch walked onto a raised platform and began to speak. "Good morning, and welcome to Combat class. In this class, you will be combining all of the skills and knowledge you have acquired in your other classes in a realistic combat situation. But today will be slightly different. Today, you will fight several matches against your fellow students under the supervision of myself and several other professors. Your performance today, along with your performance during initiation, will determine your ranks as Hunters and Huntresses. These ranks, in turn, will determine what types of missions your teams will be allowed to accept. You should not take this lightly, as missions will be an important part of your time here at Beacon. You need a certain number of completed missions, depending on the ranks of the missions you take, in order to graduate."

At this point, most of the other students were nervously fidgeting and quietly whispering to each other. Naruto, having known about the importance of missions from the beginning, remained calm and collected while listening to Goodwitch's explanation. He glanced over toward the rest of his team, and saw that they looked just as confident as he did.

"The ranks range from E to A, E being the lowest and A being the highest. There is also an S rank for Hunters, such as our headmaster, who are of an uncommonly high level of skill and power. To give you some perspective, an average student at a lower academy like Sanctum or Signal would be about E ranked. Most first and second year students at Beacon would be D ranked. By your third year here, you should be C ranked, and by the end of your fourth and final year, you need to be at least B ranked in order to graduate. After a few years of experience in the field, you should become A ranked. Only those who complete great acts of valor and defeat many Grimm can hope to be invited to the trials to become S ranked."

Naruto smirked at the similar ranking system to Konoha's.

Professor Goodwitch then held a handheld device called a Scroll up for everyone to see. "By this time, you will all have received Scrolls for your use here at Beacon. One function of these Scrolls is to monitor the Aura level of each person on your team." She opened a program on her Scroll and the image on the screen was projected onto a larger screen above her. It showed a green bar next to a picture of Goodwitch which represented her Aura level. "As you use more of your Aura, the bar will become yellow, then red. When it begins flashing red, that is a signal that the proctor can choose to call the match over. You must learn to manage your Aura if you are to avoid losing matches later on in a tournament setting."

She then began to divide the students up to fight matches that would each be monitored by a professor. Naruto's first opponent was Russel Thrush.

As Naruto faced off against his opponent, waiting for the match to start, he began to form a long-term strategy. He decided to try and win matches while using as few of his skills as possible at first, slowly stepping it up as time went along. With a mischievous smirk under his mask, he decided to try and win his first match with Killer Intent alone.

As soon as the professor gave the signal to begin, Naruto glared at his opponent and focused about a third of his own KI on him. He wasn't going to use Kurama's KI for something like this; he didn't want to give anyone a heart attack. Russell was instantly frozen in place, staring at Naruto in horror. He was sweating and his hands started to shake. Everyone nearby started feeling nervous as they caught the stray KI that permeated the air around Naruto.

The professor looked between the obviously terrified boy and the black-cloaked blonde who looked almost like a predator just standing there and staring at each other. He commented "You can start now."

Naruto smirked and said "We have started. Right now, we are locked in a battle of wills. Mr. Thrush over there needs to be able to overcome my Killing Intent before he can even hope to fight me."

The professor's eyes widened. He wasn't sure what Naruto meant by Killing Intent, but he realized that it was Naruto who was making Russell cower and shake, and there was no rule against doing something like that.

By this point, Russell had begun to become accustomed to Naruto's KI, if only slightly. It was enough, however, for him to be able to draw his large daggers and start moving forward slowly. Naruto's smirk grew wider as he decided to try and end the match. He flared his KI up to half of his own capacity, and Russell Thrush simply dropped his daggers and fainted.

As the professor was contemplating how exactly he was going to grade this match, Naruto stopped emitting KI and calmly walked back to the waiting area. After a few minutes of waiting there, Naruto saw Weiss Schnee enter the waiting area as well. Apparently, her battle hadn't taken much longer than his own.

Weiss noticed Naruto standing alone, and began walking in his direction. It was difficult to read her expression, since she looked triumphant, but irritated at the same time. Given the circumstances of their last meeting, and the fact that her match must have ended recently, Naruto surmised that Weiss was happy with the result of her match, but still angry at him, and those emotions were countering each other to some extent.

The icy girl walked up to Naruto and fixed him with a glare. "You!"

Naruto nodded at her. "Me."

"I demand an explanation! What sort of ability did you use on me while you were giving your silly speech?"

Normally, Naruto's first reaction would have been to antagonize the incensed girl further. However, in light of the kind of effects his first reactions had been having over the last few days, Naruto decided to put that first reaction on hold. "No need to get so angry, Weiss. All I did was project my KI on you. Besides, you really did need to hear that 'silly speech,' as you called it."

Weiss apparently chose to ignore the last part of what Naruto said. "That's no explanation. What is KI?"

"Hmm… That's a bit tricky to explain. Ask me again some other time, once I've figured out a way to properly define it."

Weiss scoffed. "You are absolutely infuriating. How can you not even know how to define your own ability?"

Naruto shrugged. "Some things, you learn by feeling and experiencing. I understand KI because I have withstood large amounts of it. It's more intuitive than academic. Not everything can just be learned out of a book or by studying hard."

For a moment, it looked like Weiss was going to say something else, but she just turned away from Naruto and huffed before walking away.

As Weiss moved to the other end of the waiting area, Naruto saw Russel Thrush and Sky Lark walking toward him. Sky's armor was singed in a way that looked like it was done by Fire Dust, so he figured that Weiss had been his opponent. Russell was obviously nervous, glancing around and walking very stiffly, as an aftereffect of being knocked out by Naruto's KI. When he saw Naruto, who waved at him in a friendly manner, he started shaking and dragged Sky as far away from Naruto as possible.

Naruto started to feel guilty about scaring Russel so much, and decided to give the boy time to recover before apologizing. He groaned in frustration as he realized that he now had a second apology that needed to be taken care of. He also decided to limit his KI levels during the next battles, so that the entire student body wouldn't be terrified of him at the end of the day. Plus, given the situation with his teammates, he could really use a good fight to cheer him up and let him blow off some steam, rather than a glorified staring contest.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he saw Blake returning. She saw him as well, and glared at him for a moment before focusing her attention elsewhere.

Naruto stuck his hands in the pockets of his Battle Cloak and looked down at the ground. _'I really need to start thinking of a way to apologize to them…'_

* * *

After about twelve minutes, all of the students had returned, and Professor Goodwitch paired all of the students off again. Naruto was called to fight Indigo Unda, and walked to the sparring ring they were assigned to.

As he faced off against the blonde archer, Naruto prepared himself to dodge, as he assumed that the girl would try and shoot him as soon as the match started. He was confused, however, when he noticed that there were no arrows sticking out of her quiver. Observing more intently, he noticed that the top of her quiver was actually sealed up, with only a small hole in the metal plating. He asked "Don't you need arrows for that thing?"

She smirked at him and said "You needn't worry about me. I would be more concerned for _myself_ if I was you." This was the first time Naruto had heard the girl speak, and she had a strange accent that Naruto couldn't place.

He shrugged and said "Fine. Suit yourself."

When the proctor called for the match to begin, Naruto pulled two steel kunai from his hip pouch as Indigo reached behind her as if to pull an arrow from her quiver. To Naruto's mild surprise, he was forced to roll to the left as an arrow made of what appeared to be water flew at his chest. "Well that's interesting..." he muttered to himself as he watched Indigo pull a second stream of water from the hole in the top of her quiver, form it into an arrow, and draw it back on her bow. Naruto jumped above the incoming arrow this time and threw his two kunai at Indigo while he was in the air.

The archer used her bow to deflect both of the thrown kunai and fired a third arrow at Naruto as he began to fall back to the ground. Naruto drew a kunai to block the arrow, which he then threw at his opponent, and wove six seals as he landed. Dodging another arrow, he brought his hand up to his mouth. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!"_ (Art of the Phoenix Flower)_

As five small fireballs rocketed toward Indigo, water emerged from the pouches on her belt and formed a shield in front of her that extinguished the fireballs. Naruto saw a smirk on her face and she called out "Your fire won't work on me, Uzumaki. My Semblance allows me complete control over water. Just surrender now."

Naruto laughed as he dodged another arrow and called back "Actually, it would probably be best if you surrendered. After all, you're not supposed to mix water and electricity!"

With that, he wove five hand seals and called out "Raiton: Jibashi!" _(Electromagnetic Murder)_

Several small bolts of lightning flew from Naruto's hands, striking Indigo's water shields and arcing smaller jolts to her equipment, shocking her multiple times.

Naruto drew two of his Chakra-conducting kunai, and all of the water that surrounded Indigo fell to the ground. He watched as the girl angrily discarded her quiver and belt before pulling on her bow, which separated into two knives connected by the bowstring.

He heard her call out "Fine then. No more water for you to take advantage of." Naruto simply shrugged and readied his kunai.

The two combatants locked eyes and charged each other. Naruto swung at her with one of his kunai, only for her to use the bowstring to block it and stab at him with both of her knives simultaneously. He jumped backwards and was forced to roll to his right as Indigo swung one of her knives at him from a distance by gripping her other knife in a reverse grip and using the bowstring to extend her reach.

Naruto quickly switched his two kunai out for several steel shuriken with ninja wire tied onto them. He threw them in Indigo's direction, and she didn't have to dodge or block as they all missed her. But as she went to attack him again, the shuriken looped back and wound rapidly around her, tying her up in the ninja wire. Naruto turned to the proctor and said "You can call the match, or I can run lightning down the wires."

Wisely, the proctor called the match in Naruto's favor. After releasing Indigo and gathering up his shuriken and kunai, he walked back to the waiting area, thinking _'I hope at least one of these people can go toe-to-toe with me, or this won't be any fun.'_

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked back to the waiting area for the fourth time. His third match had been pretty fun; he'd fought Timber Grey, and had actually been forced to draw Kitsune no Ikari to win. The wolf Faunus was very skilled with his knives and pistols, and wouldn't back down or surrender. In the end, it took a Daitoppa no Jutsu _(Great Breakthrough) _channeled through Kitsune no Ikari to knock him out of the ring, and out of consciousness as well. The medics had checked him for concussions, and declared that he would be fine after a few minutes.

Unfortunately, Naruto's fourth opponent, some student he hadn't met before and couldn't remember the name of, had little stamina. Obviously drained by her three previous matches, she had dropped into red Aura levels rather quickly, and the proctor had called the match.

As Goodwitch announced the matches for the fifth round, Naruto was in for a surprise, and he wasn't sure at the moment if it was a good or bad one. "In arena 7: Uzumaki Naruto versus Ruby Rose."

He saw Ruby stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and he took a deep breath before beginning to walk slowly toward the arena. He remained some distance away from Ruby as they walked, as he wasn't sure how she would react to his presence at the moment. Hopefully, he could test the waters a little during their fight. After all, there was a certain familiarity that was developed between opponents that allowed them to understand each other in a unique way. Naruto had experienced this enough to know not to underestimate its potential.

Naruto began to consider his strategy for fighting Ruby. They had never truly fought one-on-one, as the team training had been done in teams of two so far, but they had focused on each other during those fights more than once. Naruto quickly began to run through everything he knew about Ruby's fighting style and skills.

First, she was fast. Her Semblance was near the speed of a Shunshin no Jutsu (_Body Flicker_), while being as smooth and quick to use as a simple Kawarami. This meant that she could use it effectively in combat. _Very_ effectively.

Second, Ruby had a mastery over her Sniper Scythe that would make Tenten jealous. Crescent Rose may as well be another limb for her. A deadly, bladed limb that could shoot bullets up to a mile away with impeccable accuracy.

Naruto took a moment to be thankful for the Protection Glyph array that had been applied to all of the combatants to make sure that they would not take any severe wounds to vital areas. Even if the proctor would call the match for what should be a fatal blow, it was better than dying.

Third, Ruby was a prodigy. There was no getting around it. Someone of her skill level would be uncommon enough among Huntsmen and Huntresses who were old enough to have applied to Beacon. To achieve that level of skill two years before she should be applying to Beacon was nothing short of astounding. While this fact didn't directly affect her current skills, it meant that she had a much higher likelihood of picking apart Naruto's Jutsus and finding their weaknesses. She would adapt, and it wouldn't be wise to use the same Jutsu repeatedly against her.

In fact, Ruby had already adjusted to a few of the Jutsus that Naruto had used several times during the training sessions.

Fourth, she preferred close-quarters-combat above anything else. Crescent Rose was deadly to anything close enough for it to reach. She was also quite proficient in long-ranged combat as well. It pretty much came with the territory of having a sniper rifle. Naruto's best bet would be mid-range, where he was in a position to get in close and attack if she tried to use Crescent Rose's sniper rifle, but far enough that it would be tricky for Ruby to force him into a close-quarters situation.

Fifth and finally, Ruby liked to take her frustrations out through her weapon. That also came with the territory of having your weapon be like an additional limb. Some people punched things if they were angry. Weapons masters stabbed things if they were angry. With Ruby's current feelings toward Naruto, he was likely to be in for a bit of a rough time. This was likely going to be as close to fighting with the intent to kill as Ruby would ever get. At least, in regards to fighting humans; she showed Grimm no mercy whatsoever.

When Naruto and Ruby arrived at the arena, they stood at opposite starting positions, and they made eye contact. Ruby was obviously trying to keep herself completely expressionless, but it was obvious that she was feeling something unpleasant. Naruto tried to convey his regret for what he had done with just his eyes, but he wasn't sure how well that went. The proctor called out for them to get ready, and as a spur-of-the-moment thing, Naruto formed the Seal of Confrontation and bowed to Ruby before straightening and taking a battle stance. Naruto saw a look of confusion flash across Ruby's face before she returned to being expressionless.

When the proctor called for them to start, Naruto ran through seals faster than most could follow as Ruby began to charge him. Apparently, she wanted to do this up close and personal. Naruto decided to begin casting his Jutsus silently for this fight, as with Ruby's reaction speed, she might be able to take advantage of knowing what Jutsu he was using even as short as a second before the Jutsu was used.

Ruby had made it three quarters of the way to Naruto before a stream of golden flames were heading toward her, and she broke her forward charge to dive out of the way.

_'__Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!'__(Great fireball Jutsu)_

The ball of fire that formed in the middle of the field was short-lived, as Naruto was already leaping away from Ruby. When she was this close, he needed to hit her at least a little with a Jutsu before he felt comfortable going on the offensive. Ruby, of course, made a beeline for him.

Naruto threw a barrage of shuriken at Ruby, and she had to stop for a moment to swing Crescent Rose in a circle in front of her, deflecting the shuriken, before moving forward again. Naruto pulled out some kunai to throw at her, but she just darted and weaved through them. It was a smart move, as a few of them had been charged with Lightning Chakra. Then again, she had already fallen for that trick once, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise to Naruto at this point.

Naruto had just enough time to run through a few quick handseals before Ruby was upon him, and he was forced to draw Kitsune no Ikari to block Cresent Rose as Ruby swung it at him.

Luckily for Naruto, the Jutsu which he had just completed the hand seals for could be channeled through a weapon as well as being used on its own, and Ruby stumbled backward as she was jolted by lightning.

_'__Raiton: Kangekiha!' __(Wave of Inspiration)_

However, before Naruto could capitalize on the opening, it was gone. Ruby had been getting used to being subjected to shocks, and had gotten much better at recovering from them using her Aura. She was able to close the gap between them again almost immediately. Naruto pumped Chakra into his legs to jump up and over Ruby, and then into his arms as he was forced to block when he came down.

So much for making the fight mid-ranged.

The next few minutes were a blur for Naruto as he dodged, blocked, jumped, and sidestepped to keep Crescent Rose's blade from hitting him. Of course, the Protection Glyph array meant that Ruby couldn't seriously injure him, but if he was hit in a way that should be crippling or fatal, the professor would call the match in Ruby's favor. And when Crescent Rose was involved, it could still hurt like a bitch even through the Glyphs!

They weren't usually this evenly matched when they fought. However, with Ruby going for an all-out frontal assault on Naruto, he didn't have any time to focus Chakra for Jutsus or FoxFire, at least not in his human form. His kenjutsu skills were sub-par at best; he usually relied on the seals woven into the blade of Kitsune no Ikari or his Chakra enhancement to get the job done. So, with Ruby keeping the pressure on him, he was at a distinct disadvantage. The only way for him to win would be to get some distance so that he could use his Chakra for something other than keeping up with his Team Leader.

He was almost surprised for a moment that Ruby hadn't thought of fighting him like this before, but then he remembered that she was angry with him, and there he had no partner to threaten her from a blind spot. She was attacking with minimal caution, and it was paying off.

As they fought, Naruto's eyes locked with Ruby's for just a moment. That one instant seemed to last long minutes, and in Ruby's silver eyes, Naruto saw all of her anger with him and the pain he had put her through. The battle had loosened her guarded expression, but the moment ended as quickly as it had appeared, when Ruby nearly impaled Naruto on the spiked end of Crescent Rose's shaft, forcing him to jump several feet backwards.

Ruby quickly closed the distance before Naruto could try anything, and began attacking him again.

Naruto was forced to use his Aura to form a makeshift shield several times as Ruby began to fire the rifle portion of Crescent Rose, using the recoil to speed up her swings. Suddenly, Naruto had an idea. He left an obvious opening in his stance, and Ruby was quick to take advantage of it. She swung her scythe around and at Naruto's left side. She expected him to dodge or block with Kitsune no Ikari, but Naruto did neither of these things.

Forming a shield that took up nearly half of Naruto's remaining Aura, leaving him midway into the yellow portion of the meter, Naruto brought Crescent Rose to a dead stop. He had been ready for this, of course, and Kitsune no Ikari was already moving forward to impale Ruby, or poke her sharply at least. With Crescent Rose hooked around him, Ruby couldn't block, and couldn't dodge without leaving her precious weapon behind.

Naruto thought he had won for a moment when Kitsune no Ikari met sudden resistance, but he quickly drew his sword back and blocked another swing from Ruby with it when he realized that Ruby had used an Aura shield of her own just in the nick of time. The plan was an utter failure. Naruto had used up far more Aura than he had forced Ruby to, and now if he used much more, he would be in danger of the professor calling the match in Ruby's favor.

Ruby quickly forced Naruto on the defensive again, and although Naruto kept her from draining his Aura at a rate that would worry him, it was still slowly going down as he used more of it to shield himself, while hers remained mostly intact. Naruto began to lose track of time as he and his partner continued their deadly, yet beautiful dance. It seemed to him, as time passed, that the anger and pain that he had felt from Ruby as they fought was diminishing. With each attack and motion, it felt more and more like one of their sparring sessions before everything had gone wrong. Block, dodge, jump, dodge, counter, block, block, counter, dodge… their bodies and weapons flowed like water, always in motion.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose at Naruto overhanded, and Naruto sidestepped instead of blocking. The tip of Crescent Rose was embedded into the ground, and Naruto lunged forward, trying to take advantage of what he perceived to be an opening.

He was very surprised when Ruby spun around in the air, using Crescent Rose's handle as a handhold, dodging his attack and kicking him in the face before he could even form an Aura shield. He felt and heard a snap as his nose broke, and he jumped back to get out of range. However, he unwisely jumped back in the direction that Crescent Rose's shaft was pointing, and Ruby simply pulled the trigger, firing a bullet in one direction, and herself and her weapon in the other, directly at Naruto.

Naruto dodged out of the way, and Ruby swung Crescent Rose into the ground again to anchor herself in front of Naruto. It didn't stay planted for long, as she pulled it out of the ground and went on the attack again.

Unfortunately for Ruby, Naruto still had a trick or two up his sleeves. Naruto saw his opportunity when Ruby swung Crescent Rose at him from the side, and another sudden idea jumped into his head. This one wouldn't require any Aura, so if it failed, Naruto would still be in the running. Just before he blocked Crescent Rose with Kitsune no Ikari, he pushed all of the Chakra that was in his legs down and through the soles of his feet.

The result was similar to that of using too much Chakra in the tree climbing exercise; the ground under Naruto's feet exploded, propelling him backwards, with some help from Crescent Rose. It also had the effect of resetting his Chakra distribution, allowing him to throw Kitsune no Ikari at Ruby and weave seven hand seals just before he landed. Ruby was forced to sidestep to prevent getting impaled, which gave him enough time to call out "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" _(Art of Hiding Like a Mole)_ and disappear underground before Crescent Rose sliced the space he had just occupied.

Ruby spun around, scattering rose petals as she scanned the arena for Naruto. Suddenly, she felt something grab her ankles, and she was pulled downward with an "EEP!" of fright.

Naruto popped out of the ground a few feet in front of Ruby, who was now buried up to her neck in the ground, with the tip of Crescent Rose's blade poking out of the ground a few inches away from her. He used this opportunity to reach up and snap his nose back into proper alignment, and channeled Chakra into it to make sure everything aligned perfectly, so that it would heal faster.

After the proctor declared Naruto the victor, he wove the seven seals again, repeated the Moguragakure no Jutsu _(Art of Hiding Like a Mole), _and freed Ruby from her confinement. Outside of battle, the anger at him had returned, and was quickly hidden behind that guarded expression. As soon as Ruby was freed, she began walking away from him. Naruto sighed, and went to retrieve his scattered weapons. It would have been too much to hope that she would have vented all of her frustration with him in that fight, and he really didn't deserve to be forgiven just like that anyway.

At least he knew that, for a moment, she had forgotten her anger with him in the heat of battle. That gave him hope. What could be forgotten could be forgiven.

As Naruto gathered his weapons up, he noticed that a small crowd was scattered around the arena, and was applauding in the aftermath of his fight with Ruby. He noticed that Team JNPR was there, as well as Yang and Blake, whom Ruby had made a beeline to as soon as she and Crescent Rose were above the ground again.

A little confused, Naruto walked up to Team JNPR as the crowd began to filter back to the waiting area. "Is there any reason why our fight was so popular?"

Pyrrha smiled at him (she must not have talked to the rest of Team RUBY recently), and said "Your match lasted for twenty minutes, which is nearly record-breaking."

Naruto blinked in shock. "Are you serious?" He ran a quick check on his Chakra and Aura levels, and realized that his match with Ruby had brought his Chakra levels from three fourths to one third, and his Aura levels from near full to thirty five percent, according to his Scroll. "Wow… she really took a lot out of me."

Ren smirked at him "That's to be expected. As good as you are with Nature's Wrath, your skill with a sword is lower than most students' weapons skills. Ruby took control of your fight from the beginning."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Naruto admitted. If it weren't for all of the seals he had put into Kitsune no Ikari to make it the ultimate Shinobi weapon, he probably wouldn't bother using it much. He barely used FireStorm anymore, except in its rifle form. That was something else that needed to go on his to-do list: get good at using swords.

Jaune looked at the three other members of Team RUBY, who were already far away from the arena. "Why are you hanging out here with us? The rest of your team is long gone."

Naruto grimaced for a moment at that reminder, making Team JNPR look at him curiously. "I… I messed up big time. They're pretty angry with me at the moment, and me going over there would be a bad idea."

Ren raised an eyebrow at him. "Does this have something to do with you going into the Emerald Forest?"

Naruto sighed. "I never actually went into the forest- I was just at the edge of it for a while… It doesn't matter anyway. This situation is my fault, and I have to find a way to make it up to them somehow."

Increasing his pace, Naruto pulled ahead of Team JNPR, moving toward the waiting area.

* * *

When they returned to the waiting area, Professor Goodwitch immediately announced "There will be a thirty-minute break before the final round of matches. Use this time to restock whatever supplies you might need and to rest and recover some of your energy."

Naruto sighed in relief. Thirty minutes would be enough time for him to recover his human Chakra to about half of his full capacity. He wouldn't dare channel much Kitsune Chakra for fear of transforming, but half of his capacity would be more than enough to last him through one more match.

Naruto smiled and sat down, leaning up against a wall. He closed his eyes and began to nap, intent on recovering as much Chakra and Aura as possible.

* * *

As Naruto slept, Professor Ozpin reviewed the footage of the blonde's matches with a frown on his face.

The unique boy had attracted Ozpin's attention from the start, between his strange, powerful skills, and the way the Huntsman-to-be behaved in general. Ozpin had gotten the sense that the young man was much more than he appeared to be, and what he saw now only made him more certain of the fact.

Throughout all of Naruto's matches, his Aura had barely decreased at all. Even when he used Nature's Wrath with his own power, his Aura levels barely twitched downward. When he had gone into the fight with Ruby Rose, he still had over 99% of his Aura remaining. This tended to suggest that Naruto had an absolutely massive amount of Aura in reserve; to use Nature's Wrath without Dust would surely be more taxing than using it with the miraculous energy source, yet the boy had barely been affected.

Ozpin was quickly shocked, then, when the first time Naruto used an Aura shield, his Aura levels had dropped nearly 3 percent. Three percent on one shield! Granted, it had been to block a strike from one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed, but that still indicated Aura reserves that were _below_ average. As Naruto continued to use his Aura to shield himself, the pattern of large percentages of his Aura being consumed at a time continued, confirming Ozpin's suspicion that his Aura reserves were on par for a student at one of the lower Combat Schools like Signal or Sanctum.

There were only two conclusions that Ozpin could come to. First: Naruto's Semblance was so powerful that it barely took any Aura to use at all, and that had kept him from expanding the size of his Aura by using up large amounts repeatedly.

Second, and the more worrying option: Naruto had lied about his Semblance, and his abilities came from something else. Where else, Ozpin couldn't even begin to imagine. There was no doubt that the boy wasn't using Dust, and that was the only substance known to man to be able to produce such powerful reactions.

Ozpin wasn't sure which conclusion was more likely. Both were ridiculously far-fetched. The headmaster took a deep breath, and then a long drink from his mug. An issue possibly more worrying than Naruto's Semblance was the young Huntsman's history, or lack thereof.

Ozpin had looked into Naruto's background in a little more detail after Initiation, mostly to see if he could find more specific information on his Semblance, but what he had found was incredibly unusual.

Uzumaki Naruto had appeared out of nowhere about three years ago. The first official record concerning him that Ozpin could find was the lease he had signed on an apartment in the southeastern area of Vale. Before that, there was absolutely nothing. No birth certificate, no hospital records or medical files, not even the slightest scrap of evidence that Uzumaki Naruto had existed before he signed that lease agreement.

Either issue taken alone would be interesting, but probably not worth spending a great deal of effort investigating. But with a mysterious and powerful Semblance that might not even be a Semblance and a suspicious background, Ozpin couldn't afford to just let this issue rest.

The headmaster pulled out his Scroll, and began to type a message.

"I've come across something very unusual, and a little worrying. A student of mine claims that his Semblance can be used to produce Nature's Wrath without Dust, yet the amount of Aura he uses when using this Semblance is inconsistent with the amount he uses for other things. Furthermore, his background is slightly suspicious, as he lacks any documentation prior to just under three years ago. I'd like you to take a look at this, and see if you can find out anything about him from your 'friends.'"

He attached a few video files to the message that he thought were relevant, including the clips from the spars that had made Ozpin suspicious in the first place, and selected the recipient.

He paused for a moment before sending the message and putting his Scroll back into his pocket.

If anyone could figure out the mystery that was Uzumaki Naruto, it would be Qrow.

* * *

A beeping noise for Naruto's Scroll woke him up, the alarm he had set going off. He rose and stretched before opening his Scroll and disabling the alarm. He quickly checked the condition of his nose, and found that it had healed perfectly.

Naruto looked around, and saw the rest of his team standing together halfway across the waiting area from him. Even if he knew what to say to them at this point, he figured that his apology should be a more private matter, and shouldn't be done in front of everyone here.

Team JNPR walked into the waiting area behind Naruto, having gone to restock on ammo together, and spared a moment to observe him as they walked past, unnoticed by the outcast of Team RUBY. They saw the regret in his eyes as he looked at the rest of his team. As they watched, he sighed and turned his attention away from his team, looking toward the platform that Professor Goodwitch was walking onto.

After regaining the attention of the students, Professor Goodwitch began to speak. "Attention, students. The final round of matches will begin shorty. First, however, I think it would be useful to inform you that the thirty minute break we took was not for your benefit alone. You see, during this period, myself and the other proctors reviewed your completed matches and chose each of you a specific opponent. We chose your opponents to have you fight against someone as close to your own level of skill and power as possible. It is easiest to judge the level of a Huntsman or Huntress when they are in battle against a Huntsman or Huntress of a similar level. Therefore, you should keep in mind that this will be the most important match for determining your rank."

This speech made many students nervous as the names were called out. Naruto barely paid attention, concentrating on readying himself mentally for the upcoming fight. He only took note when the name of someone he knew was called.

"Yang Xiao Long versus Nora Valkyrie..."

That would be an interesting matchup. Both were powerhouses at close-range combat with explosive capabilities at longer ranges.

"Lie Ren versus Blake Belladonna..."

The two quiet badasses. No telling who would come out on top in that match.

"Jaune Arc versus Katie Veriddi..."

Naruto had never heard of Katie before, and he silently wished Jaune luck.

"Weiss Schnee versus Ruby Rose..."

That would be an interesting showdown, given the fact that Weiss had basically challenged Ruby's qualifications as a leader.

"Pyrrha Nikos versus Uzumaki Naruto..."

For a moment, Naruto stood absolutely still. Everyone still in the waiting area began to whisper to each other about how long this matchup would take.

Uzumaki Naruto: the Huntsman who could knock out opponents with a glare and vaporize giant Grimm without Dust.

Pyrrha Nikos: the winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, whose spear and shield were some of the most deadly weapons while in her hands.

Naruto smiled. A good fight always cheered him up.

"This is going to be a lot of fun."

* * *

**A/N:**

**So, things are becoming interesting. Ozpin has called in some help with investigating Naruto, and Naruto himself has a lot of work to do if he wants to redeem himself. Next up: Pyrrha vs. Naruto.**

**One last thing, the 100th review celebration is over now, and the update schedule will go back to once every two weeks. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get Naruto to the end of the road to forgiveness, so the extra time will definitely help.**

**If you've got a moment, check out Nacrym's work on Deviantart. Link is in my profile.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Hitai-ate - A ninja's "forehead protector," which is actually worn on the forehead very rarely in canon.

Hōsenka no Jutsu - Art of the Phoenix Flower

Jibashi - Electromagnetic Murder

Daitoppa no Jutsu - Great Breakthrough Technique

Shunshin no Jutsu - Body Flicker

Gōkakyū no Jutsu - Great Fireball Technique

Kangekiha - Wave of Inspiration

Moguragakure no Jutsu - Art of Hiding Like a Mole


	11. Drawing Blood and Making Amends

"Talking in English"

("Talking in Japanese")

**_"Kurama talking while outside of Naruto's mindscape"_**

**"Kurama talking within Naruto's mindscape"**

_'Thinking or Naruto talking to Kurama with thoughts'_

_'__**Kurama Thinking'**_

_Flashbacks_

Jutsus

_(On-the-spot translations)_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yo! Quick announcement: I added a few paragraphs to the last chapter to hopefully clarify some stuff. I kind of forgot to address the fact that Ruby seemed to be able to put Naruto on the ropes out of nowhere, and I don't want there to be any confusion as to the relative power and skill of the various characters.**

**If you want a (relatively) quick explanation on the relative strength and skills of the members of the characters, check out the ending Author's Note. If you don't care, that's fine too. Just know that I do have reasons for what I'm doing.**

**One final thing before I get the chapter going: I want to apologize for the late update. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but just know that real life decided to get in the way the last few weeks, and I wasn't able to upload as promised. I will do my best to remain on schedule for future updates.**

**Until then, enjoy the next chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Drawing Blood and Making Amends**

* * *

Naruto stood in a ready stance, a Chakra-conducting kunai in each hand, as he waited for the professor to start the match.

Pyrrha also stood ready, with Miló in its spear form and her shield, Akoúọ, raised slightly. She knew that this battle would be difficult, and she wasn't sure if she could win. She knew that Naruto wouldn't be able to use his dragon attacks; they simply took too long to perform. However, she also knew that he had many smaller techniques that could just as easily win the match for him.

The professor looked back and forth between the two a few times before calling out "Begin!"

Naruto immediately threw the kunai in his right hand at Pyrrha while charging the one in his left with Lightning Chakra. Pyrrha blocked the kunai with Akoúọ and ran at him. As he pulled out a steel kunai and threw it at her, she dove forward and rolled into a crouch, allowing the kunai to fly above her.

From her crouched position, she threw Miló at Naruto, who was surprised that she would relinquish her weapon so quickly. He sidestepped it and ran at her, only to hear something flying through the air behind him. He put up an Aura shield just in time to block Miló from impaling him. As Miló returned to Pyrrha, the kunai in Naruto's left hand reached maximum Chakra capacity, and he threw it at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha blocked the kunai with Akoúọ and immediately regretted it as she was electrified and knocked backwards by a burst of lightning. She dropped Miló and landed on her back.

Naruto had already drawn Kitsune no Ikari by the time the kunai had reached her shield, and charged forward at his downed opponent. As he swung the sword at her unshielded side, however, he felt a force yank the sword to the side slightly, causing it to become impaled in the ground next to Pyrrha. He jumped back, leaving Kitsune no Ikari behind, when Pyrrha kicked out at his ankles and leaped up to a standing position. He watched with curiosity as she raised her hand and Miló flew back into her grip.

As Pyrrha readied her spear again, Naruto drew two more Chakra kunai and began charging them with Lightning Chakra again as he circled around Pyrrha, who was staying between him and Kitsune no Ikari.

After a few seconds, the kunai were fully charged, and he threw the one in his left hand at her. Having already learned her lesson, Pyrrha jumped out of the way, only to have Naruto throw the other kunai to where she was headed.

Naruto was surprised again when his kunai suddenly jerked in the air, shifting its course so that it would miss Pyrrha by less than an inch. She landed in a crouch, and shifted Miló into its rifle form. Barely a second passed since her landing, and she was firing a barrage of shots at Naruto, who drew two steel kunai and began to deflect all of the bullets that were in danger of hitting him. After a few seconds of this, Pyrrha decided that continuing to fire at him would just waste ammunition, and stopped. She rose to a standing position and shifted Miló into sword form. The two combatants stared each other down, and Naruto began to emit some KI, just to see how Pyrrha would react. To his surprise, she simply twitched in surprise, before returning to her focused state.

Apparently Naruto wasn't the only one capable of producing enough KI to use in battle. Pyrrha had obviously gotten used to at least some level of KI. That, or she just had naturally strong willpower.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto began to slowly circle Pyrrha, who mirrored his movements to stay between him and his weapon. Neither of them wanted to initiate an attack right away, although it was for different reasons. Pyrrha had the advantage in her current position; without his main weapon, Naruto was unlikely to be able to go for a win. Instead, he would have to do whatever he could to retrieve his weapon. Naruto, on the other hand, was trying to figure out exactly how Pyrrha had shifted the course of his kunai and Kitsune no Ikari. He was simply circling to buy himself time to think.

Unable to figure out what she had done with the information he had, Naruto decided to get a bit more. He pushed Chakra down into his legs, and charged at his opponent, drawing FireStorm on the way.

Pyrrha moved forward slightly, and raised her shield to block as Naruto stabbed at her with FireStorm. She blocked two more attacks before making a move. Naruto swung Firestorm downward at Pyrrha, and instead of blocking completely, she let the blade deflect off of her shield. The momentum of the sword put Naruto slightly off balance, and Pyrrha took advantage of that, swinging Miló at Naruto's unguarded side.

Moving as quickly as he could, Naruto took his left hand off of Firestorm's hilt and used his forearm guard to block Miló. It glanced off of the flame-stylized armor plating, missing Naruto by a few inches. Both combatants leapt away from each other and got back into a balanced stance. As soon as she returned to a proper stance, Pyrrha counterattacked. She moved forward and swung Miló at Naruto's left side, only to have it blocked by FireStorm.

Naruto pushed back against Pyrrha, and was about to push Miló out of the way and attack when another sudden force pushed his sword slightly to the side, allowing Pyrrha to get better leverage and break the grapple in her favor.

Pyrrha swung Miló overhead at Naruto, who sidestepped and kicked at Pyrrha. Unable to dodge, Pyrrha used Akoúọ to block Naruto's foot. Naruto smirked as he got another idea, and pushed a very exact amount of Chakra into his feet. Having stuck one foot to the ground, and one to Akoúọ, Naruto proceeded to yank his foot to the side and downward, pulling Akoúọ off of Pyrrha's arm, to her great surprise. He let Akoúọ fly off of his foot just before it returned to the ground, causing it to fly several feet away from the two combatants.

To prevent Pyrrha from getting a chance to retrieve her shield, Naruto went on the offensive again. Pyrrha took Miló in a two-handed grip, and blocked or dodged every one of Naruto's swings. Occasionally, Naruto felt another unexplained force acting on his weapon, preventing him from scoring any hits on his opponent.

After an intense minute of swordplay, Naruto saw an opening in Pyrrha's stance, and exploited it with relish. He took a leaf out of Ruby's book and stabbed FireStorm into the ground, using it as a handhold to swing around and aim a double-footed kick at Pyrrha's back.

Just when he thought he was going to score a direct hit, he saw a flash of bronze out of the corner of his eye, and Akoúọ flew onto Pyrrha's back, shielding it from his kick. Pyrrha then spun around and swung Miló at him, forcing him to pull FireStorm from the ground and block. Suddenly, Naruto realized what was going on. Pyrrha could somehow control things made of metal!

Naruto adjusted his strategy accordingly and leapt backward to give himself some space. He sheathed FireStorm and wove seven seals before crying out "Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" _(Art of Hiding Like a Mole)_ and disappearing into the ground before Pyrrha could even think about stopping him.

Pyrrha tensed up and began to look all around the arena, just in case he tried to emerge behind her. When she heard something pop out of the ground underneath her, she immediately jumped up and stabbed down with her spear. When she pulled it out of the slightly disturbed ground, her eyes widened as she noticed the blood on it.

Before she could become too worried, Naruto emerged from the ground about twenty feet in front of her, examining the quickly healing hole in his left hand. "Well done, Pyrrha. It's quite an accomplishment to be able to avoid the Headhunter Jutsu on your first try, and as far as I know, this is the first time the person using it was struck by any sort of counterattack." He smiled at her and said "It appears I will have to try something new."

_'__The first thing I need to do is to take her weapon out of the picture. Since I can't really use FireStorm or Kitsune no Ikari against her, I need to level the playing field.'_

Pyrrha shifted Miló into rifle form while he said this, and began firing at him as he wove more seals. However, he only needed to weave four, and was able to dodge all of her shots long enough to call out "Doton: Ishihashira no Jutsu!" _(Stone Pillars Technique)_

Pyrrha raised Akoúọ and prepared to dodge, only to see pillars of stone slowly rise out of the ground all around the arena. She looked around quickly to see that they were apparently randomly distributed throughout the arena. Her gaze went back to Naruto as he pulled several small spheres out of his thigh pouch. He threw them at several of the pillars, which were about the same height and width as he was, and threw one at his feet. When they impacted, they created bursts of smoke that obscured the chosen pillars and Naruto.

As Pyrrha stared at the smokescreen that Naruto was behind, preparing for another attack, she heard a noise behind her, and turned to see a fist headed for her face. She leaned to the side, causing the punch to miss her, but was struck full-on by a second punch to the stomach. She stumbled backwards and swung Miló's sword form, forcing Naruto to back away, giving her a moment to recover.

Naruto smirked at the bewildered look on Pyrrha's face and moved in for a second attack. _'Just as I thought. You can only control metal.'_ He raised a fist, and Pyrrha noticed that his metal-plated gloves were missing as he ran toward her. _'My armguards are made to ANBU standard, which means that they're porcelain reinforced by strengthening seals. They act like metal, but you can't apply force to them like you would have been able to do with my gloves. It was worth getting wounded to be able to counterattack.'_ He threw another punch, which Pyrrha blocked with her shield and countered with a jab from Miló. Forming an Aura shield to deflect it, Naruto jumped back and threw out another round of smoke pellets.

Pyrrha readied Akoúọ again as she spun around, ready for Naruto to appear behind her this time. She was once again surprised when she heard a hissing noise off to her right, and was forced to use her Semblance to divert a barrage of shuriken that came from the smokescreen. As the smoke cleared a second time, she narrowed her eyes to see Naruto standing from where the shuriken had come. She shifted Miló to its spear form and threw it at him, using the rifle's recoil to speed it up. He quickly formed a Hitsuji seal as the spear left her hand.

Pyrrha watched first in confusion as Naruto made no attempt to dodge her spear, and then with horror as it impaled him through the stomach. This wasn't supposed to happen! The shielding Glyphs should have stopped her weapon from striking a critical area!

Before either Pyrrha or the professor judging the match could stop the match or call a medic, Naruto was obscured by a puff of smoke that cleared to reveal Miló stuck deep in one of the stone pillars.

With her years of experience in the Mistral Regional Tournament, Pyrrha was able to immediately realize that Naruto had been switching himself with the pillars somehow, and readied herself to defend again. She turned around to see Naruto running at her before he went in for a flying kick. She blocked the kick with Akoúọ and grunted as she was nearly knocked over by the force behind the kick.

Using Pyrrha's shield as a springboard, Naruto leapt backwards, doing a backflip for style on the way, and landed in a crouch. He smirked and formed a cross-shaped seal. "Nikai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _(Double Shadow Clone Jutsu)_

Two patches of air blurred in front of him, and Pyrrha was suddenly facing off against three Narutos. As his two clones charged Pyrrha, Naruto leapt farther back, sat down, and pulled a small scroll, an empty ink bottle, and a brush from his pouch. Drawing a kunai, he stabbed his left hand and allowed the blood to flow into the bottle. When he had enough, he put the kunai away, healed himself with Aura, and unrolled the scroll. Sparing a glance to see his clones fighting Pyrrha, he began creating a seal. _'Without her weapon, it is unlikely that she will be able to dispel either clone. While blades easily pierce their skin and ruin the Chakra construct, blunt forces do almost nothing to them now. I suppose that's the only good thing about having to make them resistant to higher gravity.'_

While he was doing that, Pyrrha was playing defense against the two shadow clones. Without Miló, which was stuck too deep in the pillar for her to retrieve with just her Semblance, she didn't have the offensive power needed to try any attacks, so she simply focused on dodging or blocking as many of the punches and kicks as she could, both with Akoúọ and with her free hand. She noticed that the copies' punches and kicks were weaker than the original Naruto's strikes, but she was more focused on defense than puzzling it out.

After about three minutes, the seal was complete, and Naruto cut it off of the rest of the blank scroll, leaving a seal tag about the size of his hand. Holding the seal in his hand ink-side up, he got up and ran toward Pyrrha, who was still fighting his clones. One of the clones purposefully left an opening, which Pyrrha exploited with relish, only to have the clone dispel before her punch could land, leaving her off-balance. Naruto's other clone dispelled as well when Naruto slapped the seal onto Pyrrha's arm.

The effect of the seal was instantaneous. Pyrrha's entire body stiffened up, and she fell over, unable to move. Naruto looked to the professor, who announced "The match is over! Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

Naruto noticed a gathering of students cheering and clapping as he removed the seal from Pyrrha. After getting up and stretching, she extended her hand to him and said "Good match."

He smiled and shook her hand. "Good match. Your control over metal is really cool."

She smiled back at him and said "My Semblance is Polarity; I have control over magnetism, not metal. By the way, what was that paper tag you stuck to me?"

Naruto nodded at her explanation and said "It was a paralysis seal. I've studied the art of Fuinjutsu, or seal-making, and can create seals that do a lot of different things, like exploding seals, strengthening seals for weapons, and warding seals."

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "That sounds like a very useful skill. Do all seals have to be made in blood?"

Naruto shook his head. "Inked seals require some blood to work, but it's usually about one part blood to nine parts ink. Also, you can apply more permanent seals to objects through more complicated methods."

Pyrrha nodded at his explanation, and they began to gather up their weapons.

It would have taken Naruto a considerable amount of time to retrieve all of the thrown shuriken and kunai, but Pyrrha decided to lend a helping hand with her Semblance, and his equipment was quickly gathered and stowed away.

Once again, Naruto accompanied team JNPR back to the gathering area, only to find that it was almost completely unoccupied. "Huh, where'd everyone go?" Jaune asked. "You'd think with how long your match lasted, everyone would be done already."

One of the few people in the waiting area heard him and called out "There's a match that got started late due to the state of the arena they were supposed to fight in. I guess the previous match nearly destroyed it. So they had to wait for another match to finish, and fight on that arena instead. I guess a lot of people got bored and went to watch."

"Do you know who it was who was fighting there?" asked Pyrrha.

The other student shrugged. "I think it was that Schnee girl and some other Huntress in red."

Naruto's eyebrows jumped up in surprise, and he channeled some Kitsune Chakra to his ears, taking care to not transform, to increase their sensitivity. He heard the sounds of fighting coming from afar, and began walking in the direction it was coming from. Team JNPR looked at him in confusion for a moment before asking for directions to the arena where Ruby and Weiss were fighting. They were surprised when they found out that Naruto had been going in the right direction, but he was already gone, so they couldn't ask him how he knew where to go.

* * *

As Naruto arrived at the arena where the battle was still going on, he noticed that there was a massive increase in the number of visible injuries on everyone in the crowd, and many of them looked like they were exhausted. There were also fewer people in the crowd than Naruto had seen at his fight with Ruby.

It took a moment for Naruto to realize that this was probably because most of the students had long since achieved Aura depletion, so they were less able to shield against attacks, and less able to heal any injuries they acquired. Many of them were probably sent to the infirmary. He hadn't really considered running out of Aura or Chakra to be a factor, but he should have realized that it was unlikely that any other student was as much of a stamina monster as he was. Pyrrha had likewise been unaffected by Aura depletion, but she had a lot of tournament experience, so she had probably conserved her Aura wisely.

Naruto slid through the watching students until he was near enough to the front to get a proper view. It appeared that the two Huntresses were at a standstill for the moment.

Ruby was looking worse for wear and slightly singed. She didn't appear to have any significant injuries, but there were a few scratches on her hands and face, probably from shards of ice or rock flying around. There was a hole in her leggings, showing a small burn on her left calf.

There were scorch marks all over the field, and a few patches of ice spikes provided both cover and obstacles to both combatants.

The Heiress herself didn't have any noticeable injuries, but Naruto could tell that she was tired. He would wager that her Aura was in the low yellow, if not in the red. Her stance was slightly off and the point of her rapier drooped, most likely a product of her exhaustion causing her to become sloppy.

Ruby was currently hiding behind a medium-sized ice spike. It wouldn't provide complete cover from an attack, particularly if Weiss decided to use Fire Dust, but it was enough of an impediment to Weiss's aim that Ruby would be able to dodge easily. Weiss probably didn't have enough Aura to safely use any more than two or three area attacks and continue fighting, so it was doubtful that the heiress would risk a large-scale attack that might not knock Ruby out of the battle.

Naruto had to admit, the situation didn't look good for either of the girls. Then again, that meant that it was also looking good for both of them, seeing as both of them was fighting against an opponent with a handicap of some form or another. He glanced over to the entrance to the spectators' area to see Team JNPR arriving before his attention was recaptured by sudden action in the arena.

Weiss had apparently decided to end the standoff by launching a stream of fire at Ruby to force her to duck behind cover, then following behind the attack to get closer while Ruby was unable to see her. When Ruby peeked her head out around the other side of the ice, she had to jump backward to avoid Weiss's blade.

While most people wouldn't be able to pick it out, Naruto still had Kitsune Chakra flowing in his ears, so he clearly heard the clicking sound followed by a quiet rattling noise that came from the battlefield. He was wondering what was making that noise when Ruby swung Crescent Rose at knee level, forcing Weiss to jump over the blade. She did a backflip in midair, and when she landed, Naruto's eyes were drawn to the spinning cylinder in the cross guard of the rapier Weiss carried.

The slightly luminescent lines of color told Naruto everything he needed to know. Weiss was a Dust user, not surprising given who she was, and she had integrated that miraculous substance directly into her weapon. The rattling noise stopped at the same time that the spinning of the Dust chamber did, and a slight light-blue glow began to emanate from the blade.

Ruby knew that this was bad news, and charged Weiss to prevent her from initiating whatever attack she was planning. Weiss, however, had apparently planned for this. She jumped up and away from Ruby, and a white glyph formed in the air behind her, directly above one of the larger ice formations that littered the field. Just before Ruby reached her, she used the glyph as a springboard to leap up and over Ruby, who couldn't stop immediately. Weiss landed and turned to face Ruby just as the red-cloaked girl managed to reverse her momentum.

Any attack Ruby would have tried had to be halted as a barrage of ten or so blue bolts of energy were launched at her by a swing of the Dust-charged rapier wielded by her opponent. Ruby backpedaled and darted left and right to dodge the energy bolts that were aimed at her, and none of them hit her. In fact, the majority of the energy bolts didn't go anywhere near her. Instead, they all converged on the ice cluster that was right behind Ruby.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what Weiss was doing. His stepped forward slightly, and his fists clenched. He had to stop himself from calling out advice to her, since that would technically be cheating. Spectators weren't allowed to alert battling Huntsmen or Huntresses to attacks that they weren't aware of.

Just as Ruby was preparing to go on the offensive again, the bolts of energy that Weiss had shot all impacted the ice cluster simultaneously. The cluster shattered, sending shards of ice in all directions. Ruby was pelted with countless fragments of ice, adding a number of cuts and wounds to her list of injuries. It was a testament to her willpower that she only staggered instead of falling over outright. She began to lean on Crescent Rose for support.

She wasn't the only one who had to deal with the ice spikes. The spectators of the match were forced to dodge or block shards that flew out of the arena. For the second time during the fight, Naruto had to suppress his first reaction, which was to simply lean out of the way of incoming ice. With him impeding the line of sight of anyone behind him, and the other spectators were no Shinobi, such a subtle reaction might endanger anyone he was in front of by denying them enough time to react. Instead, he raised his palm in the direction of the arena, and formed a golden Aura shield in front of him. He made it large enough to shield not only himself, but anyone within five or six feet of him laterally.

The ice bounced off of his shield and clattered to the ground, and he allowed his hand to fall, the shield coming down with it. That action had taken a significant portion of his Aura, much more than he had anticipated, and he felt dizzy for a moment before recovering and turning his attention back to the match.

Ruby's situation was looking worse than it had a few moments earlier. Thankfully, her red cloak had protected most of her from damage, but her arms were not under the protective garment at the time, and there were a few small shards of ice still sticking out of her flesh. Additionally, with the direction of the wind, the cloak had drifted to Ruby's left enough to leave her right leg exposed to Weiss's indirect attack. Naruto counted no less than seven shards of ice sticking out of her leg, and two of them were as large as an inch in diameter.

Weiss, on the other hand, had obviously used up much of her remaining Aura with that attack. She was breathing heavily, and wasn't making any attempts to capitalize on the massive opening she now had. Her stance was even sloppier than it was when Naruto had arrived. Naruto was beginning to wonder why the proctor didn't call the match a draw and stop this painful fight. Between Aura exhaustion and physical injuries, neither combatant was fighting at anything resembling peak condition at this point.

With a grunt of pain, Ruby took her weight off of Crescent Rose and stood up straight. Not daring to take her eyes off of Weiss for long enough to remove the ice from her leg, she quickly got to work pulling the ice fragments out of her arms. She finished within twenty seconds, during which Weiss caught her breath a bit.

The Schnee Heiress quickly analyzed the situation, and decided to avoid fighting any more if possible. She didn't have enough Aura to launch another attack of that caliber, Dust or no, and Ruby's scythe was dangerous enough as a defensive weapon that she would prefer to not have to attack the younger girl to finish the match. So, she decided to attack in a way that she knew she was more experienced at than her opponent: psychologically.

"You should just forfeit," she called out to Ruby.

Ruby tensed up and looked at her opponent in confusion.

Weiss continued before Ruby could say anything. "You're in no condition to be fighting me right now. It's obvious that you're injured, and that's going to affect your ability to use that massive weapon of yours." The icy girl summoned up some strength from somewhere, and her body shifted into a perfect fighting stance. "My victory is a foregone conclusion. Don't make me hurt you any further to achieve it."

Naruto tensed up and clenched his fists as Weiss spoke. This reminded him a little of Neji's mind games in the Chunin exam preliminaries. The biggest difference here, however, was that Weiss was doing it because she wasn't sure she could win the fight, rather than to hurt Ruby. Although, that was still a possible effect.

Ruby, unfortunately, was very inexperienced with subterfuge and deception. She didn't even suspect the reason behind Weiss's actions, and Naruto watched as she gripped Crescent Rose even tighter, making her knuckles go white.

Weiss, having drawn this reaction out of Ruby, decided to go in for the kill. "Face the facts, you're out of your league here. Beacon is a school for adults, and you're just a child. No matter how good you think you are, you're simply not ready for this level of combat yet."

The look in Ruby's eyes made it clear that Weiss's words had really gotten to her, and Naruto accidentally released a quick pulse of KI in anger before he regained control of himself. The people standing around him jumped in fear and looked around in confusion. When he saw the triumphant smirk on Weiss's face, he made up his mind.

It was illegal to warn combatants about attacks, but there was no rule against a good pep talk.

"Oi! Hyōhime!"

Weiss and Ruby both looked over at Naruto in shock, and he continued as soon as he had their attention. "Don't go around automatically deciding things, like you know more than everyone else! If you were such a better Huntress than Ruby, wouldn't that have decided the match early on!? You better believe it would, Dattebayo! So it's apparent that she's your equal at least!"

He turned to look at Ruby, who tried to school her expression to be blank, but let her confusion and surprise show slightly. "Don't give in, Ruby! She's just making those comments in the hope that you'll surrender, and give her the easy victory she desires! You can still beat her if you fight with everything you have without hesitation!"

The proctor spoke up at that point. "Alright, that's enough, kid. Let them get back to the match."

Naruto nodded to the proctor and kept quiet, but flashed a thumbs-up to Ruby. Elsewhere in the crowd, Yang and Blake were looking in his direction, more than a little surprised at his speech. Given the way he had acted toward them recently, they didn't expect him to suddenly turn around and be supportive of Ruby out of nowhere.

Ruby looked back at Weiss, who was now frowning in irritation, and refocused. Under other circumstances, she might have ignored everything Naruto was saying outright, but in this case, she couldn't deny the truth of his words. The fact that he thought she could win was somewhat uplifting to her as well. Despite the current animosity between the two of them at the moment, he was still an accomplished warrior, and his opinion had value to it.

She took a deep breath and decided to try and win the match in one final push of effort. Delaying would only give Weiss more time to recover Aura, and her wounds would only become more debilitating as time went on. Speaking of her wounds, there was no way she could attempt anything major with her right leg in the condition it was in. However, she still didn't think it was a good idea to try and pull the ice out of her wounds by hand and give Weiss an opportunity to attack. So, she gathered up as much Aura as she thought she could spare, and began to go to work on it.

The wounds in her leg and the ice shards still embedded in her flesh began to glow the color of roses, and before everyone's eyes, the ice was pushed out of the wounds, clattering to the ground. The smallest wounds stopped glowing as soon as this happened, but the two large puncture wounds only increased in luminosity. After a quick moment, the glow faded away to show that the wounds had been partially healed. There was still exposed flesh, but the bleeding had stopped, and Ruby redistributed her weight more evenly, preparing to take the fight to Weiss.

Weiss saw that Ruby had geared herself up to finish the fight, and decided to make sure that the confrontation would be on her own terms. Forming a glyph under her feet, she glided forward as fast as she could, Myrtenaster ready to strike.

Ruby took a deep breath for a second time as Weiss approached. Just as the white-haired girl was about to strike, Ruby disappeared in a burst of rose petals, causing Weiss to stumble in confusion. Weiss spun around to look for her opponent, but didn't see her anywhere in the arena.

It was unfortunate for her that she didn't think to look up.

Ruby was twenty feet in the air, directly above her opponent. She seemed to float there for a moment before falling back down to the arena. The only warning Weiss had that an attack was imminent was the loud retort of a sniper rifle firing. Before she could even look toward the sound, she was knocked across the arena in one direction, and her weapon was knocked in another. She bounced and rolled for a few seconds before coming to a stop and getting up shakily to see Ruby standing between her and Myrtenaster, Crescent Rose cradled across her shoulders.

Naruto's eyes were wide at Ruby's most recent maneuver with her Semblance. _'That… that was as fast as Shunshin at the very least! To be able to do that with her Semblance alone… It even produced rose petals as a distracting factor!'_

The proctor took one look at Weiss's Aura reading, glanced up at Myrtenaster, which was far out of the Heiress's reach, and called out "I'm calling the match! Weiss Schnee is unfit to continue without a weapon! Ruby Rose is the victor!"

There was a moment of utter silence, and then the gathered crowd began to cheer and clap. Naruto added his own applause with a smile, and he heard Yang from somewhere in the crowd shouting "Hell yeah! Great job, sis!"

Naruto stopped applauding as the crowd began to disperse, and Yang and Blake went over to congratulate Ruby and help her back to the waiting area. He turned around and walked toward where Professor Goodwitch's podium was without a single glance back, his smile still on his face. He knew that his teammates probably still wouldn't want him around, but he had finally decided how he would apologize.

Just like most of the best stuff he did, he would make it up on the spot.

* * *

As Naruto left the arena behind, three pairs of eyes moved to settle on his retreating form.

"I didn't expect him to do something like that," Ruby commented. "At least, not with the way he's been acting the last few days."

Blake tilted her head in thought. "Maybe he's decided to stop being a jerk."

"Even if he has, it's a little late now, don't you think?" Yang asked, her hostility toward Naruto showing in her voice. "He can't just start being a decent person again and expect everything to be all better."

"Didn't you say yesterday that you wished things could be like they were before?" Blake asked. "We shouldn't just forget everything that's happened, but if you really want things to go back to the way they were, that will involve forgiving him."

Yang scoffed and said "It's not so easy to earn my forgiveness. It'll take more than a smile and a pep talk."

"At least it's a start," Ruby said. "I… I'd like us to be a real team again. If he's sincere, there's no reason not to forgive him."

Yang didn't comment further. She just held onto her sister and helped support her as they walked back to where this day of fighting had begun. _'She doesn't know how rare it is for people to actually redeem themselves. Actions speak louder than words, and Naruto's actions were speaking pretty loudly these last two days.' _She couldn't fault her sister for hoping, though.

* * *

Once everyone had reconvened back at the gathering area, Goodwitch began to speak. "Thank you all for participating today. Over the next week, your fights will be reviewed by several professors, and the results will be sent to your Scrolls by next Friday. Before I dismiss you, I have one short announcement to make. On Monday and Tuesday of this upcoming week, there will be several sanctioned excursions into the Emerald forest for interested teams. Teams that choose to join one of these trips into the forest will receive coaching on teamwork tactics and cooperation. It is highly recommended for any teams that were never assembled completely during initiation, although it certainly can't hurt any other teams either. That is all. Class dismissed."

As Goodwitch had been saying this, Blake had been busy attending to Ruby's wounds using supplies from her medical kit. None of the wounds were big enough to require stitches, so Blake had just swabbed them with some disinfectant and wrapped the worst ones in gauze. Ruby's Aura would take care of them soon enough, but until then, Blake didn't want the wounds to get dirty or infected.

By the time Blake had finished, the three of them were some of the last students still in the area. They set off for their dorm room at a slow pace, Ruby having to brush off offers of help along the way.

* * *

When Naruto returned to the dorm room, he immediately removed his weapons and pouches and set them next to his desk. After he had done that, he removed his face mask, battle cloak, armguards, and shinguards, setting them on the left side of his desk.

Then, he moved to sit down at Blakes's desk, which was next to the door, and waited for his teammates to come back.

* * *

Blake, Yang, and Ruby walked up to the door to their dorm room, and Yang scanned her Scroll to unlock it. She opened the door for Ruby, who walked in and immediately set Crescent Rose down on her desk. Blake and Yang followed closely behind her. Blake shut the door behind her, and was about to remove Gambol Shroud from her back, when…

"We need to talk."

Ruby spun around with an "Ack!" of surprise, Blake jumped away from the source of the words and put her hand on Gambol Shroud's hilt, and Yang snapped Ember Celica into ready position.

Naruto, who had stood up as soon as the door had opened, blinked and stared at the three of them for a moment before saying "Um… I can't say I blame you for wanting to attack me, but could you at least hear me out first?"

It only took a second for his teammates to recover from their initial surprise, and Yang started to glare at him. "Geez, a little warning before you pop out of nowhere would be nice!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and looked down at the floor. "Right… I'll keep that in mind."

Blake seemed like she couldn't decide whether to be mad at him or curious as to what he had to say. "So, you wanted to talk. Start talking."

Naruto looked up at his teammates, and was silent for a moment, before putting his palms together in front of him and bowing deeply toward them. "Moushiwake gozaimasen deshita."

All three girls looked confused, which was a bit of a surprise, since Naruto hadn't used any Japanese term that Blake didn't know up until this point. Naruto straightened up from the bow, and said "I... I'm not sure I can properly express what that means, but I'll do my best. Essentially, I want to apologize for my transgressions against you, and beg your forgiveness. My behavior over the last few days has been dishonorable." He bowed his head. "At the very least, I should have told you that I needed some time to myself, and maintained enough communication with you to confirm my wellbeing. I will offer no excuse for ignoring you and treating you so coldly, except to say that I had personal issues that I needed to sort through. It was unfair to make you suffer because of my own uncertainties, and for that, I am sorry."

He looked back up at his three teammates, and made eye contact with each of them. "I promise you, I won't toss you aside like that ever again. If I need solitude, I will tell you, instead of taking off out of nowhere." He paused for a moment, and touched his hitai-ate. "For a while, I had forgotten what being a member of a team involved, but I will put all of that foolishness behind me now."

There was silence for several seconds, and Naruto was about to say something more, when Ruby spoke up. "Do you really mean it?"

Blue eyes met silver, and Naruto held Ruby's gaze for a moment before nodding and saying "Absolutely."

Ruby stared into his eyes for a few more seconds, as if searching for any hint of deceit. If that had been what she was doing, she apparently found none, as she smiled and said "Good. Now we can be a proper team again!"

Yang looked at Ruby incredulously. "You're going to forgive him just like that? With just a 'sorry, it won't happen again?'"

"Well, that's what you do when someone's sorry. You forgive them," Ruby replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Yang opened her mouth, closed it again, then facepalmed and sighed. "Whatever. How about you go get cleaned up? You get dibs on the bathroom."

Ruby was happy to get the first shot at taking a shower, since she was still scraped up and dirty, and quickly disappeared into the bathroom.

This left Naruto, Blake, and Yang staring each other down. "I'm guessing from your reaction that you two aren't going to be as quick to forgive me as Ruby?" Naruto asked.

Yang nodded, fixing him with an angry stare. "You don't get to just decide that you're sorry and expect everything to be alright again. Prove that you mean what you say, and maybe I'll forgive you." She glanced toward the closed bathroom door and then back at Naruto. "I'll tolerate you for Ruby's sake, but if you step out of line again…" She redeployed Ember Celica. "…you'll regret it."

"I can live with that," Naruto said. He turned toward Blake. "What about you?"

Blake took a moment before replying, like she was considering exactly what she wanted to say. "You said a lot of things that _seemed_ heartfelt. It reminded me of some of the things I read in my favorite books. However, those books have little in common with the real world. In the real world, pretty words aren't enough on their own." She walked over to her bookshelf, and picked out a book. Without another word, she walked over to her bed, laid down, and began to read.

_'Of course Blake has to be all enigmatic with her response,'_ Naruto thought.

After Ruby got out of the bathroom, dressed in her pajamas, Naruto was next to shower and get ready for bed. Once he got back into the room, Yang claimed the bathroom, and Naruto sat at his desk and pulled a scroll, a brush, and a jar of ink from one of the drawers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ruby unconscious in her bed, which wasn't surprising, given the day she's had. He opened the jar and dipped the brush into it, before unrolling about two feet of the scroll to reveal a partially completed seal. Naruto began to examine the seal closely, occasionally adding a tiny mark or drawing a kanji.

If he was honest with himself, Naruto would admit that he hadn't really expected just an apology to be enough. Ruby was apparently a really forgiving person, and that made Naruto feel even worse about how he had treated her. He hadn't expected a demand for him to prove that he meant his apology, but he was fine with that as well. Naruto had thought that it would play out like most Shinobi arguments: which involved the injured party "sparring" with the offending party, and kicking the crap out of them. He wouldn't have minded fighting all three of his teammates at once, even without using Chakra if they wanted him to.

_'There I go comparing the people here to Shinobi from back home. I've got to readjust my expectations, or I'll keep getting caught off guard.'_

Unnoticed by a pondering Naruto, Blake began to glance up at him periodically as she read her book. After a minute or two of this, Blake quietly said "Hey, Naruto…"

Naruto looked up from the seal he was working on, and over at Blake. "Yeah?"

"What exactly did you say to us earlier? I'm not familiar with that particular phrase."

Naruto smiled slightly. "Moushiwake gozaimasen deshita. In literal terms, it comes closest to meaning 'please accept my humblest apologies.' More than that, by saying it, I am acknowledging that I have done harm of some form to the person or people I am apologizing to. Specifically, harm of a level that would usually require reparations to be made in some way." He set his brush down and turned in his chair to face Blake. "It's not a phrase I've ever used until now."

"I see," Blake said. "It's interesting that I've never come across it before. Thanks for the explanation." She went back to reading, and Naruto returned to his seal.

_'She's probably never seen it before because of how the language was brought here,'_ Naruto thought. _'Demons and Hanyou would only apologize to a mortal in very rare circumstances, and never with that level of formality... Although I guess one has now…'_

By the time Naruto decided to go to bed, Yang was out of the shower and drying her hair, and Blake had moved into the bathroom to get ready for bed herself.

As he drifted off, he couldn't help but smile. Yang may be demanding proof of his sincerity, and Blake was as mysterious as usual, but if there was one thing Naruto was good at, it was surprising people.

His team would be in for the surprise of their lives… as soon as he figured out exactly what manner of surprise it would be.

* * *

**A/N:**

**As always, if you've got a moment, ****check out Nacrym's work on Deviantart. Link is in my profile.**

**Well, I promised an explanation on the characters' relative power levels, so here it goes.**

**Basically, Ruby was able to keep Naruto at a disadvantage the same way Kiba did in the Chunin Exams: constant assault. Kiba, despite ending up losing to Naruto, was able to keep him from initiating any Jutsus or counterattacks by forcing him to dodge and defend. Ruby does a similar thing, only she relies less on raw speed, and more on her extreme skill level with Crescent Rose, even though she does have a lot of speed as well. Essentially, if Ruby and Naruto were to fight weapons-only, she would kick his ass every time. Naruto spent more time on Jutsus and Chakra manipulation than on weapons skills, so when you take those away from him, he will suffer for it.**

**Also, there are two major differences between the fight from last chapter, and the other fights between Naruto and Ruby. 1: Ruby's pissed at Naruto, and was being far more aggressive. As a result, she was able to control the flow of battle. 2: It's a one-on-one fight. In the two-on-two bouts that Team RUBY did in practice, Ruby had to keep an eye out for Naruto's partner whenever they fought, or risk getting blindsided. Since she could focus completely on Naruto this time around, she could afford to attack him with everything she had.**

**Furthermore, other characters in Remnant have trained to rely only on their bodies, Aura, and weapons. They don't, and can't, use Aura to increase their strength and speed, with the exception of specific Semblances. A Huntsman fighting Ruby would either rely on speed and skill equal to hers to match her, utilize their own Semblance to gain an advantage, or use knowledge of fighting styles to predict her moves. Naruto isn't as academic as most people in RWBY, so there's not much chance that he would study up on fighting styles to be able to counter them, and he doesn't even know what his Semblance is at this point. Therefore, he is forced to use Chakra to fight Ruby on equal ground, which nullifies much of his offense, whereas a Hunter wouldn't even have the capability to sacrifice their offensive powers to increase defense in most cases.**

**I have discovered that I seem to have an issue where I make things happen for pretty good reasons, but I forget that my readers don't know the reasons, and I have to at least hint at those reasons if not explain them outright. So, I don't make the reasons available to the reader, which can confuse them or make it seem like I did something stupid. I will try to improve on that.**

**Moving on, I'm going to try and wrap up the reconciliation of Team RUBY in the next chapter, since this whole thing has gone way further than I had originally planned. Hopefully, that will come out in a more timely manner than this chapter did.**

* * *

Japanese Terms

Moguragakure no Jutsu - Art of Hiding Like a Mole

Ishihashira no Jutsu - Stone Pillars Jutsu

Nikai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Double Shadow Clone Jutsu

Hyohime - Ice princess

Dattebayo - Verbal tic, similar in meaning to "hell yeah" or "ya know"

Moushiwake gozaimasen deshita - "Please accept my humblest apologies." A formal apology.


End file.
